Perspectives Elsa’s dance card nstead of sailing, this morning I was transported to Fargo, N.D., in the Roaring 20s; well, sort of. On the porch today, my wife and I uncovered a real treasure: a box of her mother’s dance cards from Fargo High School in the 1920s. Elsa was a lovely lady, so much so that I named my boat after her. Perhaps some of you are old enough to remember dance cards, those cards the young ladies tied to their wrists at dances. They were numbered inside, and a small looped string with a pencil attached went from the card to the hopeful young lady’s wrist. If a young man wanted a dance, he gently lifted the lady’s scented hand, took the pencil, and put his name on the next open number on her dance card. Elsa must have been quite popular; we found an entire photo album filled with dance cards. And every dance card was full. Which brings me to the other Elsa. She was invited
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to a rafting party at a yacht club float last week. Well, that’s not exactly accurate. Actually, I initially asked if she could come. You see, I’m proud of my old sloop. I wanted her to be the belle of the ball, despite always knowing she would never be the shiniest, and certainly never the skinniest, girl at the float. But she got invited. We’ll make space for her, they said. At 30 feet, compared to so many others, Elsa is not a tall girl. Around her middle, at 10 ½ feet, she may be a tad thick, I’ll admit. And certainly, at 12,000 pounds, she’s off the chart for height/weight ratio. Finally, at 33 years of age, her clock is indeed ticking. “We’re going to a party, Elsa,” I said to her as I climbed aboard from her little sister, a nutshell pram I’d built years ago. She seemed to perk up a bit at that, bouncing on the wake of a passing powerboat. (Well, maybe that’s too perky a word; “slowly lumbering up-
David Roper
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