It was Friday night and it was "Old Time" night at the Melody Mill in Dubuque, a popular dance hall, first opened to the public on August 8th, 1934. The 100 by 162 feet dance floor of polished maple wood shone like gold! Loud, live music played and there was the swaying, stepping and turning and twirling of the dancers on the dance floor. It was an amazingly magical sight to see and thing to hear as well. "I've got a Feelin' Youre Foolin'" was playing...
"The music's so loud I can barely hear myself think!" Helen exclaimed, laughing. All the couple's were there, Eddie and Helen, Fred and Frances, Mr. And Mrs. Walbrun, along with teenaged Rosey and John as they too loved to dance, Paul and GIlbertha (known as Bert) Bardrick…..all the couples except for Fred Jr and wife Irene, who couldn't find a babysitter for their little daughter Marlene.
"I told Freddie I would babysit for him….I don't need to dance…" Frances said. All the couple's were sitting at tables with drinks in their hands and they were talking, not finding a good song to dance to.
"Oh you need time out for yourself too. " Fred told his dear wife. "Let Freddie be a family man..,.I'm sure he's still having a good time. You'll have plenty of time in the future to babysit our grandchildren."
"Oh, Eddie,…that's our song!" Helen exclaimed as "Somebody Loves You" from 1932 by Billy Cotton and his Band started to play.
"Oh, you two kids have fun!" Frances smiled. "Go dance a little!"
"No fancy tricks, you two" Fred said. "That's our grandchild you've got in there! First grandson!" He added proudly with a nod of his head.
"Oh Papa!" Helen laughed. "You don't even know if it's a boy or a girl!"
"Or maybe both." Eddie added. "Twins…..Hey, ya never know!"
"One of each?" Fred grinned at his daughter.
"Now I don't look that big yet do I?" Helen looked at her mother worriedly. "Mama?"
"Well, honey…perhaps there's two…..or one large baby." Frances chuckled a little.
"Oh now you guys are making me self-conscious!" Running her hands over her cute baby bump. "I'm hardly even at 5 months yet! "
"You look just fine….Go dance with your husband. " Frances assured her and watched them go and dance to the lively, floaty, tune of "Somebody Loves You " Eddie had written the lyrics to it in a letter. Along with other songs that described how he felt about her,. when they wrote to each other during the time when Eddie was away in The C.C.C..
The four parents looked on at their newly married children who were in so much love and they started talking about the joyous little bundle that would come in just a few months, August of 1935 to be exact.
"Ve so ever excited…" The tiny, and petite Mrs. Walbrun said in her broken English and smiled with her eyes shining. "Our first grandchild." Mr. Walbrun said something in German to her and wrapped his arm around her.
"Our second." Fred smiled proudly. "I'd swear it's a boy,….but we'll just see."
Mr. And Mrs. Walbrun glanced over at Paul and Bert who were holding hands and a few tears slipped out of Bert's big brown eyes and she smiled and whispered something to Paul. Then he decided to speak up. "Not that this is a competition folks,….but Mother and Father Walbrun…..you know we've been trying for a long while….the last one you know,….." but he stopped and glanced at his wife, not wanting to make her cry, so he put his strong arms around her.
"You'll hopefully get your second grandchild soon." Bert smiled her little Mona Lisa smile. "About a month or two after your first!" She smiled wider as she saw their eyes and their smiles go wide, and even wider.
"Nein!" Mrs. Walbrun said no, happily in German, and couldn't help but keep saying it and Bert answered her in German the truth. Yes, yes they were finally expecting too! Finally after all the trouble and sorrow. Bert's parents couldn't help but go over and hug her closely.
"Congratulations, Bert." Frances said softly with her eyes sparkling. "How are you feeling?"
"Horribly sick…" she answered, yet managed to smile a little.. "Sick but happy. Paul and I are overjoyed." Bert said glancing at her husband. The conversation picked up about Paul and Bert's move in the near future to Colorado. They said they will be running a large cattle ranch and both agreed that would be an interesting place to raise their future children on…. and then the conversation died down a little. Paul went and got a little water for Bert as she was very thirsty, and Fred heard a song playing and started moving his head to the music and tapped his foot. Frances chuckled at her husband at the sight of him. He soon grabbed his wife and led her out onto the dance hall. The 1933 song by the Anson Weeks Orchestra was now playing "Thank Heaven for You" Frances giggled at the antics of her husband! His lively step to the music almost made him step on her foot a few times. He would jutt his jaw out, just like their son would do, and Fred whisper sang the lyrics to her, playfully rolling his eyes when the word "you" would be sung,…yet, while dancing and in between his little playful antics he gazed at his dear, loving wife of almost 23 years with the upmost love and affection for her. And she for him. Both of them knew they had a good thing going. Communication, laughter, forgiveness, accepting each other as they were. Being there for each other in the hard times and rejoicing in the good.
"I pray and say thank Heaven for you!" that line of the song just fit them perfectly.
Bert and Paul went out to dance themselves and scanned the crowd and saw Eddie and Helen near them and Helen's parents dancing, Bert's mother and Father smiling, talking while sitting at the table. She saw her little sister Rosey Walbrun talking and dancing with a young man and her little brother John at the punch bowl with a young girl about his age. "Everyone's pairing up." Paul joked.
"Hi….I'm John Walbrun." The teenager told the young lady. The girl sipped her punch and didn't pay much attention to him. "You know,…my middle name is Christ…." He blurted out. John slapped himself on the forehead as the girl walked away. "Ask HER what her name is dummy!" He said to himself.
"My names Eleanor…." A different girl walked up to him and she heard the whole thing with the other girl. "Young"
"I know you're young….what your last name?!" he blurted out.
Eleanor Young laughed and her freckles stood out all spread across her nose and rosy cheeks. "I just told you silly….Young, my last name is Young."
"Oh…." John replied and laughed nervously. "I'm John Walbrun…."
"Nice to meet you John…. You do have such an interesting middle name."
John nervously gazed at her and saw the cutest freckles on her face and a few seconds later he horrifyingly realized he had blurted something about her freckles too.
"Thank you…." She laughed "Yes, you can call me Freckles too….if you want to."
"Uh….uhhhh…..you wanna dance?" he asked her quickly.
"Sure Johnny." Freckles giggled at him.
Mr. And Mrs, Walbrun finally joined the dance floor and everyone in the whole place danced. The swirl and twirl of all the skirts the women wore was nifty,…. and the peppy, lively music too. It was all such good fun! A swell time had by all. They all danced to the last song of the night, "Happy Days Are Here Again!" Just the sound of that song breaking out and all the dancing and smiling just seemed to make the world a beautiful place to be in! Everything was right in the world and nothing else mattered in that moment.
Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So let's sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again
Altogether shout it now
There's no one
Who can doubt it now
So let's tell the world about it now
Happy days are here again
Your cares and troubles are gone
There'll be no more from now on
From now on
Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So, let's sing a song of cheer again
Happy times
Happy nights
Happy days
Are here again!
Little did they know that hard times and the war were coming in the future. Right now everything was good. Happy days!
"You're not upset we didn't get to go dancing with the folks, dear?" Irene asked her husband. They lived just up the street from Fred and Frances. It was a dead end where their house was. On the other little hill past Fred and France's place was where Frances' parents used to live in the little brick house in the woods where she grew up. That's the place that Eddie wanted to buy someday.
"There will be other times, honey." Freddie said. He turned on the radio and an old favorite started to play. "We'll just have to make the best of it!" He said grabbing his plump little wife, her eyes squinting as she smiled. "Oh Frederick!" Irene laughed as he started to dance in the kitchen with her , singing the lyrics to the 1933 Don Bestor song.
Beautiful girl, you're a lovely picture
Beautiful girl, you're a gorgeous mixture
Of all that lives under those big blue skies
My heart cries, beautiful girl
You're a dazzling icon, beautiful girl
I could never trifle if I have you
You'd be my dream come true
There may be blonds and brunettes that are hard to resist
You surpass them like a queen
You got those lips that were meant to be kissed
And you're over sweet sixteen
Oh, beautiful girl, what a gorgeous creature
Beautiful girl, let me call the preacher
Irene couldn't help but smile and laugh at her husband as he sang to her and danced right there in the kitchen! She played with his wavy dark hair on his head and they continued to dance and Freddie sang with the radio.
What can I do but give my heart to you
If I could write like poets do
I sang my songs that's all to you
Beautiful girl, you're my desire…..
"There's my other beautiful girl!" Freddie smiled as little Marlene, with her short straight bobbed hairstyle, ran into the kitchen with a huge grin and he scooped his daughter up into his arms and gave her a peck on the cheek. "My beautiful girls." He said and put an arm around his wife's waist.
Authors note: I hear the song that Fred and Frances were dancing to and thought of Fred's antics! It reminded me of what my grandfather would do. My grandfather was one of Fred's grandsons. Frances described her husband as loving, kind, gentle, upright and just and wise, sincere and true in his heart and mind. I assume he had a sense of humor too. Frances sure did and she was spunky.
I just found out where Freddie Lay, his wife Irene and their children, Marlene, Billy and Vivian lived. My mom just told me as I was writing this so I got an idea and put it in! Just up the street in our neighbors house. We live in Fred and France's house and have since a year before I was born. And the little brick house that the Gruber's lived in (Frances' childhood home.) Is no longer there. One house was up the road one way, and the other house was up the road or street the other way. Both are dead ends. ….Also not sure how long Freddie and his little family (or if they all) lived there. During the time of this story they just have little Marlene.
Hm, I wonder who that Eleanor Young was. Haha. ;)
Paul and "Bert" Bardrick ran a cattle ranch somewhere between Kit Carson and Cheyenne Wells, Colorado. After WW2, they moved and set up a dairy farm in Minnesota. My grandpa said they never had any children in real life. In my story, it's different.
Helen's quote, "The music's so loud I can barely hear myself think!" And Frances smiling saying go have fun was kinda true, i got my inspiration someone telling a story of from my aunts wedding where the music was really loud and Helen said something like that, she couldn't take the loud music. I asked what Frances would have said? That she probably would've nodded, smiled and said "Go have fun" and not cared about the music. :)
I immensely enjoyed the old music in this chapter. Feel free to look it up!
It's been nearly 4 years since I've written but I want to get back and finish. So many changes in my life. My own emotional scars and hard times I'm working through. And good times! I now work at a nursing home in Laundry and Housekeeping departments. God is good.
Feel free to review! Tell me please what you think.
