Betty the Spy

Betty and Gary were high school sweethearts in Denton, Texas.  Denton is about 35 miles  north of Dallas and Fort Worth.  Betty and Gary have three children.  Mike is the oldest, then comes Cindy, then Chris.  Three children!  Everyone knows raising children is hard work.  It takes time and effort, plenty of aggravation, and there's no real money in it.  However, when done right, there is a wonderful sense of satisfaction.  Gary and Betty were good parents.  Having met all three children, I can attest that they are great.  Like his father, Chris is a computer wizard.  His computer business hosts my SSQQ website.  I have been very pleased. 

Chris played an important role in this story.  He attended North Texas State University in Denton.  He was scheduled to graduate over the May 15 weekend, 1999.  Along with Cindy and Mike, Gary and Betty drove up to celebrate.   This must have been a proud moment for Betty and Gary.  They were about to achieve a life-long dream of putting all three children through college.  

On the way to Denton, Betty surprised Gary.  She asked him to take a little detour over to Fort Worth.  Gary replied by saying a 35-mile detour in one direction adds up to 70 miles round trip.  This was not exactly 'a little detour'.  Gary asked,"What is this about?" 

Betty replied that she was very curious about her father.  Due to the 4-hour driving distance between Fort Worth and Houston, Betty did not see her 81-year old father Bill very often.  Usually at Christmas and perhaps a second time per year if she was lucky.  Recently Betty had spoken to her father on the phone.  During their talk, Betty discovered Bill liked to go Ballroom dancing every Friday night at the Stardust Ballroom.   Betty was shocked.  She did not even know her father knew how to dance.  Surprised to find the Stardust had been her father's hangout for 16 years, Betty could not figure out how this interesting fact had escaped her.

Betty had a clever idea.  Okay, so Dad kept his dance secret from her.  On the other hand, he did not know her dance secret either.  In addition to her new interest in dance, Betty wanted to tell her father how dancing had played a major part in helping Gary recover from a medical emergency.

Gary ended up in the ER room in late 1997.  His computer business was located in Memorial City Mall.  The rent was high, so out of necessity he became a workaholic.  Working every hour the store was open, that included 10 am to 9 pm six days a week, 12 pm to 6 pm on Sundays.  Of course he would arrive an hour early to open up and stay a half hour after closing. 

Gary was having chest pains, but he did not know what the problem was.  His pain were so bad that every evening Betty was ready to call 911.  Gary was later told that his problem were stress-related, a silent killer caused by overwhelming business worries. Gary had a staff of eight employees who depended on him to keep the store busy.

Gary's symptoms were tightness in his chest plus periodic but brief pain in his heart.  Gary's doctor prescribed nitroglycerin pills.

(Nitro pills are fast-acting medications placed under the tongue to treat and prevent sudden attacks of chest pain or angina caused by coronary artery disease)

The pills worked.  In fact, they worked too well.  Gary developed a dependency on them which led to a medical emergency.

Here is what Gary told me:

"One day I almost killed myself by taking too many pills at once.  It was mid afternoon and I was at my store in Memorial Mall.  Normally, the chest pains happened when I went to bed every night.  But on this day the pain hit me at work.  I was in terrible agony.  My chest pain felt like someone had grabbed under each side of my rib cage and was pulling so hard as if to rip my ribs out of my chest.   Immense pain!   I could hardly breathe, so I leaned against one of my desks and took a nitro.  When it didn't work, I panicked and started gulping down more pills.  No luck.  Still hard to breathe and terrible chest pain.  I took a second pill, no help.  I took a third and a fourth.  Still no relief.  I took five nitro pills back to back, but it wasn't working.  I was so miserable I was just about to take a sixth pill when one of my assistants came over and asked if I was okay.  She remarked that I was white as a sheet.  I told her what was going on and that the nitro wasn't getting rid of the pain like it normally did.  Ordinarily I only needed one pill, so why wasn't five working?  I was about to take another, but my assistant grabbed my hand and told me to stop. 

She and another employee agreed we needed to get me to Memorial Hospital which was right across Gessner Street from the mall.  When the ER doctor saw me, he admitted me on the spot.  The first thing he said was that I was a lucky guy.  One more pill might have killed me.  In fact, he was surprised the five I had already taken did not finish me off.  I was very fortunate I stopped when I did or I may have done myself in. 

I was monitored all night long with a device that they put around my neck to check my heart response.  The next day they did a heart cauterization which involved pushing a camera up from my leg all the way to my heart to see any blockages or damage.  The results showed my arteries were in great shape, no problems.  The doctor was surprised to find I was actually in pretty good shape.  He asked what I did for a living.   I told him my story about worries at work.  The doctor replied that since my health was better than expected, he thought the problem was stress from working seven days a week open to close.  Stress is a killer, but someone usually does not realize what the pressure is doing to them. Unaware of the danger, they are at great risk.  The doctor suggested try having fun once in a while."
 

This is where Betty returns to the story.  Shortly after Gary's emergency, Betty's best friend Cheryl invited Betty to take dance lessons along with their husbands Joe and Gary.  Cheryl pointed to a December country-western class at SSQQ.  Betty liked the idea, so she asked Gary to come along.  Gary said no, it was Christmas Season, too busy.  So Betty took classes by herself with Cheryl and Joe in December.  One night Gary noticed that Betty came home with a big smile after class.  Curious, he asked Betty to explain why she liked it.  Betty asked Gary to join her and this time he said okay.  Gary joined Betty, Cheryl and Joe in January 1998.

A month behind, Gary struggled a bit, but he was not one to avoid a challenge.  By the time March rolled around, Gary was getting pretty good at the Texas Twostep.  By coincidence one day he noticed the stress pains had mysteriously stopped.  Gary felt so much better, he stopped taking his medication.  However, at the time Gary did not make the connection between dancing and his improvement.  That realization came the next time he went for checkup

His physician said Gary's heart was fine, the problem was completely gone.  Curious, the doctor asked what Gary had done.  For the first time Gary realized his frequent dancing was responsible for relieving the stress.  Gary credited this pleasant development to his new-found love of dancing plus the fact that dancing made his wife happy.  As far as he was concerned, dancing had not only saved his life, it made Gary's marriage stronger. 

Soon it was time for Chris to graduate.  As the family drove towards Denton, Betty thought it would be fun to tell her father about her new dance hobby and how it had helped Gary's health.  Although Betty was not quite as rabid as her husband, she definitely enjoyed dancing to country-western music.  Noting that she had her Friday evening free before her son's Saturday graduation ceremony, Betty told Gary that she wanted to watch her father in action at the Stardust Ballroom.

"Does your father know you are coming?"

"Absolutely not, Gary.  That would take all the fun out of it.  He doesn't even know I'm in town."

Noting Betty's father was in his 80's, Gary said, "What if Bill is so surprised to see you he has a heart attack?"

"Don't worry about my father," Betty replied.  "He's plenty tough.  I want to see what Dad is really like in an unguarded moment.  I realized the other day that I don't know him as anyone other than my father."

"What if he isn't even there?  You told me he has been nursing a hurt foot.  Is he even able to dance?"

"I asked him that question.  Dad said on the phone he hasn't been dancing for nearly a month, but he has really missed it.  Dad said he thought maybe he might try dancing again this week.

"Well, Betty, Fort Worth is a long way from Denton for just a 'maybe'.  Are you sure about this?"

"I don't mind taking a chance.  What else do we have to do?"

Gary had 100 better answers, but wisely kept them to himself.  Instead, he resorted to the lamest excuse he could think of.

"I don't know how to Ballroom dance and I don't like the music either."

"Gary Richardson, don't be such a poophead.  You've been dancing non-stop for over a year, so you should be able to figure something out.  Just watch what they do and copy it.  Besides, I don't want to go to see you dance, Gary.  I want to go see my father dance.  I also want to surprise him."

"Yeah, but I will have to wear a coat and tie."

"That won't be a problem.  I packed them for the graduation ceremony."

"That's not what I meant.  It will be uncomfortable for me to sit there all night wearing a coat and tie."

"So go sit in the waiting room and take it off.  I won't mind."

"Yeah, but then I have put a tie back on to dance."

"I don't mind.  I'll help you re-tie it."

Gary was starting to realize whatever dumb excuse he thought of, Betty had no sympathy.  Increasingly aware how much Betty wanted to do this, Gary relented.  Happy wife, happy life. 

Fast-forward to Fort Worth on Friday night.  As Betty got ready in their Denton hotel room, she was glamorous in her beautiful black sequined evening dress.  The dress length was cut high in order to highlight her lovely legs.  For good measure, she put her hair up.  With heels and her fancy hair style, Betty was six inches taller than usual.  For the finishing touch, Betty applied heavy make-up in a way that would change her appearance.  How long would it take her father to recognize her?  Betty could not wait to find out. 

Gary put on his tie and grumbled a bit.  However, once he saw the determined look in Betty's eye, he decided to knock it off.  Was Fort Worth calling?  Yes, it was.  Time to go.  Betty and Gary arrived at 8:30 pm.  The Stardust Ballroom featured a large dance floor, an orchestra and plenty of round tables for seating.  Betty poked her nose around the corner and was disappointed not to see her father.  Seeing how discouraged she was, Gary said it was early, relax.  So they found an inconspicuous corner spot at the Stardust and began to watch for Betty's father Bill.  Gary noticed the crowd was in their 70's and 80's.  Feeling out of place, Gary started to feel like a teenager again.

Suddenly Betty's father appeared.  At 9 pm Bill strode in wearing a sporty light blue blazer.  Noting the whole room lighten a bit, Gary wondered if his father-in-law's neon blue coat was responsible.  Clearly Bill liked to be noticed. 

As Gary and Betty watched in fascination, Bill wasted no time asking a lady to dance.  Betty could see her handsome father was quite popular.  He was in good shape too.  Despite his age of 81, Bill danced every song from the moment he arrived.  Betty giggled with delight.

Once Bill looked over to the corner where Betty the Spy sat.  Seeing his eyes linger, Betty quickly stared down to avoid giving him a good look.  Gary was not used to this side of Betty.  He wondered if perhaps his wife was a bit sneakier than he had previously realized.

Gary and Betty watched for 30 minutes.  At 9:30, a 'John Paul Jones' was announced.  A John Paul Jones is a mixer that allows everyone to dance with everyone without the hassle of asking.  The idea is for everyone to get out on the floor, then change partners whenever the whistle gets blown during a medley of songs.  Gary was expecting people to line up in circles like we did at SSQQ, but to his surprise it was less formal here.  When the whistle sounded, everyone traded partners and continued.  When the whistle blew again, they switched again.  Gary had a good idea.  Seeing everyone trade partners, this was Betty's perfect opportunity.  Just stand near her father and keep moving closer.  Gary gave Betty a nudge.

"C'mon, Betty, let's get out there.  This is your chance to make your move."

"No, not yet, Gary, I want to study my father in action some more."

Gary was tired of sitting, so he nudged her again.  "Betty, there may not be a better chance."

Betty looked at him and nodded.  "Yeah, I guess you're right.  Okay."

So Gary and Betty hit the floor.  Gary was a little nervous because he didn't have a clue how to Foxtrot.  So he decided to dance the Twostep due to the similarity between the two dances.  Like Betty, Gary was worried that Bill might recognize him.  Unlike his pretty wife, Gary had not come in disguise.  So Gary and Betty started dancing with several couples between them and Betty's father.  Every time the whistle blew, Gary asked a nearby woman to dance while Betty worked her way closer to her father.  On the 4th partner switch, Betty adroitly stepped inside the path of another woman to intercept her father.  Her quick move worked.  Standing in front of her father ready to dance, Betty stuck out her hand.  "May I dance with you, sir?"

A big smile crossed Bill's face.  His first remark was, "Oh, a young one!  And pretty too.  Aren't I the lucky man!!"  

Gary stepped off the floor and found a better spot to see Bill's reaction.  At first Bill was clearly pleased to have such a very pretty lady to dance with.  But after thirty seconds, Bill's expression changed from smile to frown.  Bill narrowed his eyes and began to look at Betty intently.  

Bill said, "You know what?  You sure look a lot like my daughter."

"Oh really?" replied Betty with a smile.  "Where does she live?"

"Oh, um, down in Houston.  By the way, my name is Bill.  Have you been here before?"

Betty replied, "No, this is my first time.  By the way, you dance very well, Bill.  You are easy to follow."

Bill blushed.  "Thank you.  I like to dance."  Then he began to stare again.  "You know what, you really do look a lot like my daughter.  I have two daughters, but you look a whole lot like the younger one.  I swear, you could be her sister."

"Oh, really?" Betty replied.  "What's your daughter's name?"

"Betty".

"That's a nice name." Another smile from Betty. "Is she pretty?"

"Why, yes, actually she is very pretty.  And so are you." 

Ordinarily Betty is a bit on the quiet side.  But not tonight.  With her hair teased high and makeup on, Betty had deliberately changed her demure appearance into that of a dancing queen.  As they continued to dance the Foxtrot, Bill did not take his eye off Betty for a moment.

They danced for a minute more.  The whistle blew, but Bill ignored the whistle.  Bill was so curious about this unknown lady in his arms, he did not want to change partners.   Meanwhile Betty said nothing.  She just continued to dance and smile absent-mindedly.  Sometimes she looked at her father, sometimes she watched the other dancers.  She did not want to make this easy for her increasingly flustered father.

Finally Bill couldn't take it anymore.  He asked, "I'm sorry, but I have to ask a question.  By some chance, are you pulling my leg?  Are you really Betty?"

Betty's face lit up into a huge grin.  "Why, Dad, you finally guessed who I am!  Yes, it's me, your daughter from Houston!  Good for you!"

At that exact moment, the whistle blew.  Betty deliberately separated to dance with a new partner, leaving her father standing there flabbergasted.  Before he could react, some woman grabbed Bill and expected him to dance with her.  Out of the corner of her eye, Betty saw her father crane his neck to get a better look at her.  Bill was absolutely dumbfounded.  He was still in shock even when the mixer ended.  In a daze, instead of seeking out Betty, Bill walked back to his table to take a sip of his drink and sit down.

Gary and Betty were surprised to be ignored.  They both shrugged, then followed Bill to his table.  To their surprise, Bill's social graces were still lost.  He just sat there speechless.  Gary helped his father-in-law snap out of it by asking if they could join him. 

"Oh, uh, sure, Gary, of course," Bill stammered.  "Pull up two chairs."

Gary and Betty sat down, but not much conversation ensued.  Bill was quiet as he stared into space.  Bill's silence was actually very awkward, so Gary relieved the tension by asking Betty to dance.

When they returned to the table, Bill had finally snapped out of his shock.  Bill greeted Betty with a smile, then good-naturedly chewed Betty out for fooling him like that.  After introducing Gary and Betty to his friends at the table, Bill turned his attention to his daughter.

"What are you doing here, Betty?"

Betty explained that her son Chris was graduating tomorrow.  Since they were in the area, she thought she would come see her father.  Bill smiled as his natural warmth returned.  He squeezed Betty's hand, then with a grin Bill told everyone that Betty was here to 'spy on him'.  Bill's friends thought Betty's playful trick was precious.  Then they teased Bill for not recognizing his own daughter on the spot. 

Since there were several more women than men at the table, Gary was put to work keeping the extra ladies busy while Bill and Betty caught up.  Pretty soon everyone in the building knew the story and loved it.  Next thing she knew, Betty was being asked by all the men to dance.  This was no surprise.  Betty was the prettiest lady in the room.  Now that Betty was the belle of the Cowtown ball, she did not sit down again.  Her father beamed at how well she danced and how popular she was.  When Bill danced with her again, he complimented Betty on her dancing.  Her father's praise made Betty's night. 

As for Gary, he had been worried about not knowing how to Ballroom Dance.  The Orchestra played a lot of Big Band Swing music.  Unfamiliar with Swing dancing, Gary was relieved to discover he could Twostep to the music instead.  Gary had no idea why his Twostep was so successful.  I explained to him that the Twostep originated from Foxtrot and that Foxtrot had the same 'slow slow quick quick' rhythm as Swing dancing.   

Greatly relieved to discover his Twostep could pass as a Foxtrot, Gary got his confidence back.  Uh oh, watch out, ladies!   Any man who can dance is considered a treasure at a dance party.  Gary enjoyed instant popularity.  Sue, a tiny 80-year old lady in a red dress took a shine to Gary.  Sue was 5 feet tall and weighed less than 100 pounds.  Despite her diminutive size, Sue was aggressive.  She hauled Gary out on the floor and called him 'Sonny'.  

"Okay, Sonny, let's see what you can do!" 

Sue could not get enough of Gary.  Later on, there was a second John-Paul-Jones.  Just as Gary approached a woman, Sue bolted out of nowhere to elbow the other woman out of the way. 

"Watch out, Mable, Sonny is mine.  He belongs to me!"

Poor Gary.  Gary complained the women fought over him so much they tired him out. I felt sorry for him until Gary mentioned he had led a goofy move he called the 'Big Bad Wolf Step'.  Did I mention Gary can be a flirt?  Young girls might be irritated by an older guy pulling a slick move, but these gals let Gary get away with it.  When Gary complained about being given no rest, I told him it was his own fault.

Betty was equally popular.  Betty's hips worked beautifully to Cha Cha and Rumba music.  Gary was worried when he saw the startled look on her father's face.  Bill's eyes were bulging.  Indeed, her father was taken aback to see his daughter move like a pro.

Bill turned to Gary.  "I can't believe that is my little girl out there!"

Bill was not alone in his delight.  His male friends were watching Betty and liked what they saw.  Fortunately Bill took it the right way.  After Betty got off the floor, Bill said, "I have never seen anything like that in my life.  You are a great dancer, young lady!"  

Betty grinned from ear to ear at her father's compliment.  It was sweet to be Daddy's girl again.  This had been a night to remember for Betty the Spy.