SEPTEMBER 18, 1860

Blythe sat in the post office, scribbling the names of square dancing steps on a piece of paper. She had been taking square dancing lessons for quite a while now, but she still had some trouble remembering the steps. And now there were a bunch of new ones to learn, so she was memorizing what each step was. Hopefully that would help her remember the steps when it was time to do them at the lessons. Then all she would have to worry about was remembering which way was left and which was right.

She smiled, thinking about Daniel, her partner. The poor man has had his toes stepped on more than once, but he�s remained a good sport about it. She had really not wanted to take the lessons, but they needed an extra person, so she had agreed to do it. And surprisingly, she was having fun.

She didn't realize she was humming and tapping her foot to the music until Javier started laughing at her. She smiled at him. "I was going over the steps in my mind."

He laughed again. "That's not the right way to learn them," he grinned.

"Oh yeah," Blythe countered. "Just what is the right way then?"

"Like this," Javier pulled her out from behind the counter, and they started dancing around the store. They were both laughing so hard that they didn't hear the bell ring when the door opened.

"Oh, excuse me," a small voice said.

Javier and Blythe stopped dancing to see Marta standing before them.

"I'm sorry," Blythe smiled. "We were just practicing for the square dancing lessons. Can one of us help you?"

"Oh, I need to mail a letter please," Marta said.

Blythe smiled at her. "I can help you with that."

"How are you today, Marta," Blythe led her to the post office.

"Just fine," Marta smiled. "What was that about square dancing lessons?"

"Oh, it was something the town started a while back. I've been doing it ever since they started, but I have a hard time keeping up sometimes," Blythe laughed. "I have a hard time keeping up most of the time. But it is fun."

"Sounds fun," Marta agreed.

"Do you square dance?" Blythe asked.

"No," Marta laughed. "That was one style of dancing they didn't teach us at boarding school."

"I don't imagine that they would," Blythe laughed with her.

"But I can waltz with the best of them," Marta said in her best 'high society' voice.

"Your total is one dollar," Blythe said laughing.

"One dollar?" Marta asked confused. Last time she mailed a letter it had cost her five.

"Yep, just one dollar. Russell, Majors, and Waddell finally realized that the normal person couldn't afford to mail many letters at their old prices," Blythe explained. "I just got the notice this morning. All their rates have gone down."

"Well, that is definitely nice," Marta agreed, handing Blythe a dollar. "Maybe you'll be seeing me in here more often from now on."