#ChickLit # WKLYPrompt ... Prompt #12 (Photo Prompt) ... 800-2500 words

ChickLit

It was the last weekend of summer, meaning my niece and nephew were heading back to school soon, and the Exhibition had come to town. As I passed the exhibition grounds on my way to work, I smiled to myself. My sister and I had a lot of fun at the Ex when we were teens. It had been years, well, two decades to be precise, since I'd been to the Exhibition. Thinking of my niece and nephew, who were 10 and 12, I wondered if they would enjoy going to the Ex with me this year. I couldn't recall my sister ever taking them and made a mental note to text her about it once I got to work.

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Val and I were standing shoulder to shoulder in the crowded exhibition grounds waiting for the kids to get off the Paratrooper. Kiara kept looking for us and waving but Caden looked bored. Clearly, it didn't go high enough for him or fast enough either. I was amused by his blasé expression and thought to myself 'poor guy '.

Val interlocked her arm with mine and grinned sheepishly down at me. "I have such good memories of the exhibition Anita. I'm so glad you mentioned it!"

I smiled indulgently at her for a moment before turning my full attention back to the kids. The ride was winding down and soon they'd be getting off. We'd have to pick a fast and fun ride next for Caden so he didn't lose interest and start asking when it was time to go home.

I was thinking about going on the Graviton with him, maybe, when Val squeezed my arm and whispered excitedly in my ear, "that guy in the blue and white button down shirt has been watching you for the whole ride!"

I didn't bother looking. I just laughed at Val. I swear she turned into her teenage self the moment we got our hands stamped and walked through the gate into the exhibition grounds. She spent more than half her time watching for cute guys and I spent all my time keeping a close eye on the kids and Val!

Cute guys had been the sole focus of all our trips to the Exhibition when we were teens. Val and her girlfriends, all older than me, lived all summer long for the Ex and the chance to meet a cute guy from someplace new. Even if that someplace new was just the next town or city over! I laughed just thinking about how small our worlds were then and how little it took be classified in our books as a catch!

Kiara and Caden found us and Kiara pulled on her mother's arm enthusiastically pointing to the Ferris Wheel. Caden seemed content with the Ferris Wheel, so I didn't mention the Graviton just yet. I'd bring it up when it looked like he had had enough of following us girls around to all the lame rides.

We all started to head towards the Ferris Wheel when Val started grinning and winking at me as she kept jerking her head over her right shoulder indicating that the guy in the button-down top was still near us - maybe still watching us - maybe watching me. I wanted to laugh out loud at her ridiculous behaviour. I remembered, when we were teens, that catching a guy's attention was big news! It was what we girls lived for back then.

However, to be truthful, I was a bit embarrassed by the memory of my younger self. I would never chase after a guy (or multiple guys) in one night like we so often did back then. And I certainly would never dare to be so obvious and blatant about it now as we were then. The thought was mortifying! Gawd, we literally chased boys (and men) around the grounds in those days, pretending all the while we weren't interested even though we were coming up with excuses to nonchalantly walk by a booth or to stand in a line way too many times for it to be anything but planned!

I blushed, even now, when pictures of us huddled together, spying on one guy or another to see if he was checking out one of us or if he'd noticed us come by again, popped into my head. I looked around the grounds now and most of the teens had their heads bent over their cellphones or were preoccupied taking numerous pics on their cells. None of the girls were paying too much attention to the young guys milling about, who were also on their cell phones.

What a different social environment it was here now compared to when Val and I were young. There were no large groups of giggling teens trying to figure out if the guy they were crushing on had noticed them yet! These girls wouldn't even know if a guy was checking them out because they were too preoccupied with their apps. As embarrassed as I was over my younger self, I still preferred that ridiculous behaviour to what I was seeing here. Were these teens even making memories?

Caden suddenly wrapped his arm around my waist and snuggled into my side. I was surprised by the move as I draped my arm over his shoulders and gave him a squeeze. Honestly, I thought he'd already gotten to the stage where he thought he was too old for public displays of affection. He was 12 and a half after all. Whatever changed his mind today I couldn't even begin to guess at, but, I was happy all the same. I enjoyed the little show of tenderness. He was my favourite nephew after all.

"You bored, kiddo?" I asked him quietly while his Mom and Kiara were busy chatting with each other. I wondered if he was missing his electronics right now. We'd been here an hour already and it was likely the longest he'd gone without a device since the last time he was grounded.

"No," he said simply.

I smiled down at his head and dared to give it a little kiss. He didn't complain, which was a pleasant surprise. "Is there anything you want to do? Any rides you want to go on or anything you want to see in one of the agricultural barns before we leave?" We weren't even close to leaving yet but I wanted him to give it some thought. It would be a shame to head home later and find out after we got home that he really wanted to check something out or go on a particular ride.

Without even hesitating he blurted out, "Can we see Elvis?"

There was an Elvis impersonator named Wendell Clark in one of the tents on the grounds. Mr. Clark was a local and quite famous around here. It wasn't that he looked the part all that much, though the knock-off costumes and the wigs did help, but that he sounded so much like the real deal.

"Did Grandad tell you Elvis was going to be here?" I asked while trying not to laugh. I didn't want to hurt Caden's feelings. He didn't know going to see an Elvis impersonator was the sort of thing the older generation did. Not too many 12 and-a-half-year-olds were lining up to see some old fella impersonate the King of Rock and Roll.

Looking down at his upturned face I could see a spark of eagerness in his brown eyes, which were so like Val's. It looked like we'd be getting in an Elvis concert before the night was over. The thought made me laugh to myself. Never in a million years would I imagine myself sitting in on one of Mr. Clark's performances no matter how well liked he was.

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There was standing room only for the Elvis concert. The organizers rolled up the tent flaps at the entrance end of the tent and this enabled people to sit on the grass outside the tent and enjoy the concert from there. Plus, the tent was far enough away from the hustle and bustle of the exhibition rides that those of us stuck out on the grass didn't have any trouble hearing the music or Mr. Clark singing.

Our little group managed to snag a picnic table to sit on. We all sat up on the table top. It gave us a great vantage point. We could see right over the heads of those sitting inside the tent watching the concert and because we were above their heads we could hear the music really well too.

Caden was the happiest of everyone. He surprised me by how well he knew the songs. I wondered, just how much time did he spend with Dad? Our father loved Elvis. I'm sure he was the only reason Caden even had a clue who Elvis was. Val and I exchanged a couple laughs (quietly) over Caden's enthusiasm for Elvis. It looked like he was turning out to be an old soul.

Mr. Clark did a great job covering all the classics like Hound Dog, Unchained Melody, Don't Be Cruel and Love Me Tender, just to name a few. He also sang songs I'd never heard of before but Caden assured us they were part of Elvis' roster of famous songs. His knowledge was impressive. Val kept checking google to see if he was right and elbowing me in the side every time he was, which was a lot!

Towards the end of the show Mr. Clark introduced some re-mixes and the younger crowd went wild. He sang Funk Jak's A Little Less Conversation and suddenly the grass was full of teenage girls jumping up and dancing to the modern re-mix of the old classic.

Kiara leaped from the picnic table and grabbed her mother's arm pulling her onto the grass so they could dance too. Caden smiled at them but he wasn't about to embarrass himself in front of several teenage girls by getting up and dancing with his mom and little sister. The two of us sat watching the 7 or 8 spontaneous dancers. Caden was trying to look cool by looking disinterested and I was just quietly smiling at the girls.

These girls, the ones dancing without a care in the world, reminded me of Val and I when we were their age. This was just the sort of thing we would have done. Only, we'd be hoping and praying the cute guy we'd been stalking all night was watching us. I wasn't sure these girls were the least bit aware of whether there were any cute guys around watching them. They were just purely dancing for the fun of it.

I couldn't remember Val and I ever being  quite that uninhibited but it looked like Val was making up for it now. She and Kiara were dancing up a storm and didn't care about who was watching. I pulled out my cell to video it. In my mind's eyes I could see Kiara asking her mother and I, years from now, 'Do you remember the time we danced like crazy to Elvis at the Ex?' and I'd say, 'Yes, I sure do and I've got the video to prove it!'

Oh, Val was going to kill me when she saw I'd just posted a 3 minute long video of the two of them dancing, with the Ferris Wheel in the background, to facebook! The thought had me laughing out loud. My laugh caught Val's attention and she grinned at me. I grinned back. It was so much fun making memories at the Ex! 

(1943)