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go over to the Fern Hill Resort down the road tonight she knew some guys who worked there for the summer.

Things were definitely looking up.

After applying lots of hairspray and eyeliner we went down to the Fern Hill and up to the employee living quarters. It turned out everyone there was from Queens. As in New York City. They were even listening to the Beastie Boys on a boombox. It all seemed so urban and foreign to me, even though I only lived about three miles outside Queens myself. The guys offered us beers and we obliged. It was like a dream to me, I couldn't believe my luck.

I had barely started drinking before Kathleen downed her beer and was already working her way through another. She seemed to know these guys pretty well. They all grew up together back in Queens. It wasn't long before Kathleen had disappeared down the hall with one of her "friends." Now I was left alone with five strange guys who, fortunately, did not even seem to notice I was in the room. I suddenly felt really awkward.

I decided to go downstairs to the bar where some guy was playing an accordion and kids played video games while their parents drank and danced waltzes and lindy hops. This was what I was used to up here. The same old songs, the same old performers, the same old dances, and lo and behold, there were my same old parents up doing a waltz themselves.

"What happened to your friend?" my dad inquired. "I dunno, we kind of lost track of each other." No further explanation was requested. Dad told me to join them and ordered me a Coke. That same sense of relief came over me as I returned to the comfortable, familiar routine of so many years before: sitting at a table with my parents and watching them and other couples dance the night away, my mom sometimes singing along to a song she knew. I even got up to dance the Stack of Barley with my mom. Who cares if I don't look cool, I thought. I will never see any of these people again, anyway. I knew this was the last year we would take this trip. And it was the best year of all.

Learn more about this author, Rachel Doherty.
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