A Place to Dance
by Anthony Tovatt
Category: Fiction

The Cuchat family of Dave, his wife, Martha, and children Robert (Bub) and Faye faced a direct threat from the local klan when a contingent of sheeted and hooded figures marched in military fashion and lined up on the road in front of the Cuchat's dance pavilion and little house. The leader made two charges: 1) David Cuchat operated an evil business, a dance pavilion, that threatened the morals of 100 percent Americans; 2) David Cuchat was a Catholic and thus was loyal to the Pope at Rome, not to the government of the United States. Told to leave with his family in one week or suffer the consequences, Dave declared to the klan his right as a U.S. citizen to operate a legal business and to attend a church of choice. To demonstrate how he would protect his family and his business, he blasted a series of clay pigeons out of the air with deadly accuracy. The klan left quickly. During the anxiety-filled summer, in which Dave's alcoholism added to the tension, his friends strove to help him short-circuit klan activities. In September, however, the family's constant fears were realized and they were plunged into numbing despair - a despair, though, that quickly turned to hope when their neighbors offered the Cuchat family a chance to build a new and larger place to dance and possibly other attractions on the shores of Lake Buffalo. Thirteen-year-old Bub tells the story.