Another story in the pirate theme. The title popped into my head one night as I was falling asleep. It would not be denied.

Sarah is an army brat. Her dad is an Army Ranger. Fortunately, he has been working a desk job for the past few years. Her mom is much happier now. She remembered years past her putting on a brave face as he left the house for “undisclosed location”, then the constant worry until he once again appeared at the door. Life is good, except for the moving every six months. For the past four months they had been living in a small south Texas town. The bright side is she now knew how to make new friends fast. She has a new best friend, Julie, partners in crime as they like to refer to themselves.

Tonight, the big Cotillion is going down at the country club for all the local debs. Sarah and Julie have spent all afternoon working out a way to crash the party. They figured out early on they can’t just walk in the front door. Julie has a new idea that is brilliant. This is totally going to work! The girls prepare their dresses and shoes, carefully folding them into those re-usable canvas grocery store bags. They spend the next two hours working on their up-dos and gently tucking them under black caps. They go light on the make-up, too much would blow their cover. Putting on white, short sleeved tops with black pants and black shoes, they are ready.

They load their bags into Julie’s old Corolla and take a moment for a short prayer over the hood to “Saint Iacocca”, patron saint of all things car. Julie firmly believes the daily prayer is the only thing keeping the old car running. She turns the key and starts the car. The engine comes to life and she thanks it for good behavior. They drive through town, out past the large ranch-style homes of the local aristocrats. Soon they arrive at the country club. The guard at the gate gives them a dubious look, but Sarah leans over and explains they are part of the kitchen crew and are running late and please, please, let them in so they don’t get fired! He tells them this is not the entrance they should be using. There is a service entrance one street over where they check in against the worker list, but just this one time they can go ahead.

Julie in her nervousness guns the engine and takes off fast. She slows down and the girls giggle all the way through the parking lot and around the back to the kitchen. She parks the car and they sit, each trying to get up the nerve to carry through with the plan. Sarah looks over at Julie, “My dad always tells me to be bold. If you go in like you know what you are doing people will not question you. And carrying a ladder will get you through security 90% of the time.” She pauses, “I don’t think that last part applies.” They nervously smile at each other, clasp hands for a moment and step out of the car. Quickly grabbing their bags, they walk towards the catering truck parked by the back entrance. They stop just outside the kitchen door. Julie stifles a giggle. Sarah smiles, “Be bold.”

They step through the door. The kitchen is in a state of controlled chaos with the dinner plates being returned and coffee going out to be served. They slide along the wall and duck through a door into the “19th hole”. The lights are off and it is empty. They creep through the room over to the door to the main ballroom. Peeking through the small windows, they see the MC announcing the start of the father/daughter dance.

Sarah grabs Julie, “We have just enough time to get dressed, we can go out any time after this dance.” They hustle over to the ladies room just off the bar. As fast as they can, they pull out their dresses and change. Very carefully they each lift off their hats and readjust their hair. Sarah holds both of Julie’s hands, “We are ready. We are bold. We can do this!” Julie only nods, no words can come out.

The move back to the ballroom door. Peeking again they see young couples on the dance floor. Now is the time! Sarah gently pushes open the door and steps through, pulling Julie along with her. Sarah whispers, “Remember, be bold.” They slowly walk towards the dance floor. From the corner of her eye Sarah sees Jennifer Parker giving her the stink eye. Jennifer turns to her friends and whispers something. They all begin to giggle. Sarah spots her crush Tommy Silvers across the room, the very picture of handsome in his summer suit and burgundy tie. He glances up, a look of surprise and amusement crossing his rugged face.

When the two girls reach the dance floor, Sarah sees the MC coming in their direction with a stern look on his face. He stops them, “Ladies, you do not have an invitation to this event. I am sorry, but you will have to leave.” Julie wilts and Sarah thinks “Busted!”

Tommy steps in between the MC and the girls. “I will take care of this, ah, situation. if you don’t mind.”

The MC nods to Tommy and walks off.

Tommy steps back, looking at Sarah. “Wow, you look amazing! You are by far the most beautiful girl here tonight. I can’t believe you did this. You two must have some real courage!”

Sarah smiles, “Thank you Tommy. Would you like to dance?”

Tommy stammers, “Ah, of course! I would love it.” He glances back towards his friends, gesturing for Tim to come over. “Tim, I think you should ask our gorgeous friend Julie here for a dance.”

Tim smiles at Julie and with a slight bow says, “I would be honored. Julie, would you care to dance?”

Tommy gently takes Sarah’s hand and leads her out on the dance floor. He places a firm hand on her waist just as the band kicks off. Around they go, spinning and weaving the most magical night of her life.