The Navy Ball

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a young lady that went to a ball. This is her story:
Our sleep was interrupted by a strange animal sound: a series of short, hoarse vocalizations that sounded like something was being tortured. I got up to look out the living room window. I saw a dark figure of what was probably a deer walking down the street. When I opened the front door, it was gone. I went back to bed, but then the sound started up again behind our house, though not for long. Chris woke up too, and being married, we did not go back to sleep right away.
So the next morning, I woke up late, hearing the phone. It was Myra asking me if I was going to Round-up (which was in 20 minutes) so I said no. She promised to call when she got back. I drank water and texted Kathy about nail stickers to match my dress. After checking e-mail, I went next door to get the wrap Denee was lending me. Then I went to Myra’s place, feeling a little brain fogged. Mandy came over to pick up the dress that Myra repaired. It looked good. Myra needed me to help her pin straps in the right place. She was adding to the lining of the dress so her underwear would not show. But it did, especially in the back. But she seemed confident that she could cover it all with the extra fabric cut off the bottom. She said she didn’t need me anymore so I went home. I watered my plants and picked some tomatoes. I was trying not to eat because I wanted my stomach to stay flat. But I did have some onion soup which had some pieces of beef in it. I finished hemming my dress. Kathy came over with nail stickers. She explained how to put them on. She showed me her collection and I picked the silver ones. After she left, I took a shower. I sat down with my magnifying lamp, small scissors and a hair dryer. I peeled the stickers off the sheet, one at a time. Each one was curved at both ends, so I cut it in half and used the halves on the corresponding finger of each hand. The widest one went on my thumbnails and the smallest on my pinky fingers. I used the hair dryer to warm them up so I could stretch it to cover each nail, but the result wasn’t that satisfactory. There were wrinkles around the edges. I trimmed off the excess and filed, but again, the result wasn’t that satisfactory. On the other hand, without the magnifying lamp, they were all ok. When my nails were done, I called Kelly to see if she could do my hair. She was at the commissary so I spent the time putting in the earrings Myra lent me. The curved prong was short, so it was hard to get them in the holes in my ears. Kelly called me when she got home. I walked up to her house. I showed her my nails and she thought they were ok. She used a flat iron and a bit of hairspray to add volume to my hair. She showed me the mold in her house which she had just explained to Housing that they had to do something about. When I got home, I ate a baked apple. My nose started running, so I concluded that I must be sensitive to something in the recipe.

I opened an Amazon box that came two days ago. I found rosewater, so I applied it liberally since I don’t own perfume. I put on a touch of eyeliner at the outer corners of my eyes, and added a touch of lip liner and smoothed it out with my homemade lip balm. Chris came home and got himself dressed. I packed my clutch with tissues, Chris’ camera, safety pins, and a tiny sewing kit in case anyone had a dress emergency. Chris asked how he looked and I got his medals on straight. His hang-around-the-neck medal did not show under his tux because it was too low. So I put tucks in the ribbon to raise the medal just enough so it would show but not too much. Then Chris helped me get dressed, especially with the shaper. The twins did not move a nanometer for the next 5 hours. Chris took pics of me in my dress on the front porch. Then we walked down the hill to catch the first bus. We were the only married couple on the bus so I was worried that it was the wrong bus. And I thought Myra and Scott were coming, but the bus filled up and left right on time. As we drove out the gate, it occurred to me that I did not have my ID to get back. The bus drove through traffic and half an hour late arrived at Yeonriji. We all got out and took the elevator to the third floor. There was a wide open space in front of the ballroom. Directly in front were tables set with food covered in plastic wrap. People were taking pics from the grand stairway. We hung around greeting people and talking, waiting for the second bus to arrive. We had our picture taken by the evet photographer against a Navy Ball design background. Then the CSO called for everyone to find a seat. So we went in and looked for a table, with space for Myra and Scott. But we did not find one. Eventually we sat at the front with Danielle and Ross, and the ladies from the bank. Then there were speeches about this being the 241st birthday of the Navy. (I thought the ball was just an excuse to dress up.) Some awards were given out. FINALLY, he said tables 1,2 and 3 could proceed to the buffet. We were at table 6 so I figured it wouldn’t be long. And it wasn’t, plus we had good conversationalists at our table. When given notice, we proceeded to the buffet right outside the doors. But I spotted Myra at a back table and had to go greet her. Poor Chris got to the buffet and discovered I was gone. So he came back for me. Then we filled our plates. There was just enough offerings that I could eat to fill it. Some people took two plates so they would not have to come back. When we sat down again, I took a pic of my plate. I ate everything on it and considered going back for more since I saw sushi rolls on Danielle’s plate and fruit on Chris’ plate. I had not seen either at the buffet. But just as I got up to go, the CSO announced toasts. So I sat back done. Chris poured a modicum of wine in my glass. Then we all toasted whomever they could think of. After the toasting, four people stood for the cutting of the cake. There was a sword for this purpose. And a ceremony of the oldest giving a piece of cake to the youngest to symbolize the passing of wisdom. The ceremony continued, but due to the acoustics, I could not make it out. I wanted to lick the sword, but could not find a nice way to phrase it. (Ok, yes, due to the sugar content, I wouldn’t have done it anyway, but it would have been funny, right?) Afterward, we gathered for a group picture.

When the ceremony was over, regular table conversation started up. It was hard to hear anything in that room. But as I looked around, I noticed Anna approaching the women individually and they left. After a while, I remarked to Danielle that all the women were leaving but I did not know why. She said we should check it out. So we made our way to the other side of the ball room where the doors were. When we passed Chaun, she decided to accompany us. The three of us found all the other women gathered on the grand stairway to have a group photo taken. I don’t know why we weren’t invited, but we joined right in. Chris showed up in the group of men standing at the bottom taking pics. I tried to get his attention so I could give him our camera, but his mind reading skills were not working.
Then the DJ turned the music up and the younger people started dancing. It was not the kind of music Myra and I liked for dancing, although it had a beat. When we returned to the ballroom, the younger generation was lined up in rows and columns, doing some sort of group dance. The next dance seemed simple enough, so we joined in. But the next one was more complicated and I could not get it. Then we did the Macarena. Chris announced that the first bus was about to leave, so we made our way done to the street. We found that the first bus had already left and got on the second one. Soon Myra and Scott showed up, then some single sailors. One lady went back to tell the others that the last bus was leaving. When she got back, the bus pulled away from the curb and we were on our way. Chris, Scott and Ray discussed the wild boar hunt scheduled for tomorrow. Apparently we might get the pork dinner I have been joking about every time I see all the damage they are doing! Chris gave me his jacket so when we got to the base, I could wait outside the front gate for him to go home and find my ID and bring it to me. But Scott, being head of Security, said something to the MA that checked ID’s and she decided to let me on base. Myra said she would have waited with me. The bus pulled into the parking lot formerly known as Duffy’s and we got off. The four of us walked up hill to Myra’s place, and then Chris and I continued up to ours. Chris helped me get the dress and the corset off. Being able to breathe was such a relief. I was so tired I just got in bed and we fell asleep.