Oh, what a night! That was the last time we stayed up all night.
“Oh, my God! Can you believe she wore that?” I exclaimed, walking down the crowded street. “That would be the last thing I would want to wear.”
“Yeah, well, with a body like that, I would wear it too.” My best friend was always saying how she wanted to have a body that would be killer in anything other than what she was wearing.
We walked the next couple of blocks to the train and noticed the rain started falling as we got to the platform.
Elvis had just passed away in August and the world thought it would end without his music. We were young, seeking something different, watching, and waiting to see who the next “big” thing would be. I couldn’t understand why someone so young, full of life, ambition, and charisma, was gone.
Anyway, we got on the train and sat back exhausted from dancing all night. It didn’t matter that we didn’t have dates, we enjoyed dancing and that was what tonight was all about. Saturday nights, freedom from parents, restrictions, our menial, part-time jobs, and we had time.
Hours earlier…
“I don’t want to stand here forever. What if we say, by 9 pm, if we don’t make it in, we go downtown to that new place?”
“Let’s wait. We are so close to walking through that door.” Sue was always wanting to wait, wait, wait.
“Ok, Fine.” I lit a cigarette and puffed away.
“We are in!! I can’t believe we are here.” Pushing her way through the crowd we found an open spot against a wall and watch. The dancers on the floor weren’t coupled up but dancing in lines and large groups.
“What are they doing?” I asked as I watched them swinging their hips, taking large, sweeping steps, and pointing to the ceiling.
“Oh, that? It’s all the new craze, man. That new movie, what was it, oh, yeah, Saturday Night Fever, had some new stuff in it and everybody is doing it!” A tall, red-haired, freckled guy next to me explained what I was watching.
I smiled and said thanks. Sue and I didn’t waste time. We slid right in and joined the fun! And boy, was it fun! December 31, 1977, was a night to remember. The end of something old, the start of something new, and the time of our lives. Did I mention that was the last time we stayed up all night?
December 31, 2019
Elvis has been gone 42 years, the Bee Gees still get played, Star Wars has enough movies to be played by several generations that it will never be forgotten, and the beloved John Travolta will forever be dancing in that white suit pointing to the sky in Saturday Night Fever.
Sue and I keep in touch via Facebook and a few chance meetings. We don’t stay up late anymore – those days are gone. Things have changed so much – school, marriage, deaths, births, jobs, and technology. Now the sand is slowly filling up the bottom of the hourglass. Time, we had so much of it back then.