Mike loved dancing. He had taken a dance class and learned many dance styles, everything from Rumba to Swing. At the university he attended, there was an evening dance called “Swing Kids” that did all sorts of different styles. The person doing the music would announce the type, and everyone would dance that dance form.
Mostly only those who had taken a dance class came, but everyone was welcome. Those who didn’t know all the styles would sit out when a dance was announced that they didn’t know. Mike would inevitably find a girl he thought was cute and start dancing with her, only to have a dance come up that she felt awkward dancing, even with his help.
If that was the case, he would go with her to the side of the dance floor, and they would visit instead of dance. But too often, since they were not dancing, another guy would come along and ask her to dance the next dance, and Mike would lose contact with her.
But one night, he met a girl named Sarah. She knew every dance, and they never left the dance floor. They spent the whole night together. By the end of the evening, Mike had asked Sarah for a date the next week, and she had accepted. Before she left with her roommates, Mike made sure he had Sarah’s info written on a piece of paper that he tucked in his pocket.
When he got to his apartment, he had to tell his roommates about his wonderful night. “Sarah is beautiful and an incredible dancer. We have a date set up for next week.”
“What’s her last name?” one of his roommates asked.
Mike smiled and reached for the paper in his pocket. But to his dismay, it wasn’t there. He panicked. He searched all of his pockets, but the paper was nowhere to be found. Since it was dark, he borrowed a flashlight from one of his roommates and traced his steps back to the ballroom. He found nothing. He looked all through the room with no luck. He thought the cleaning crew might have found it and thrown it away, so he checked the garbage cans. He found nothing, but did have a lot of people stare at him.
Mike searched every place he could think of. Around two in the morning, he finally had to give up and go to bed.
Mike’s roommates wanted to help. They sat around and brainstormed about how he might find Sarah. One of them suggested looking in the campus directory. When they checked it, they found more than a hundred girls with that first name.
Mike had talked a lot with Sarah as they danced, and he knew a lot about her, but he couldn’t remember her last name. He knew she was from Montana, was majoring in chemistry, and had two brothers and a sister. None of that helped them get closer to finding out who she was. Mike and his roommates tried everything they could think of over the next few days, but had no success, and the night of the date was now only one day away.
Suddenly, Mike remembered something that might help. He remembered that, as her roommates had gathered with her to walk home, he had recognized one of the girls. He had seen his roommate, Ben, talking to her at the food court.
When Mike described her to Ben, Ben nodded. “Her name is Natalie, and she is in my chemistry class.”
Mike could hardly wait for Ben to return from his class. It was the day of the date, and if Natalie didn’t have a roommate named Sarah, Mike’s last hope of finding her would be gone.
When Ben came into the apartment, he was smiling. “Natalie does have a roommate named Sarah, and she is from Montana. Natalie gave me Sarah’s number.”
Mike excitedly called her. When Sarah answered, Mike explained who he was.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sarah said. “Something has happened since we last talked. A guy found a piece of paper with my name and number and decided to call me. He thought that maybe it was a sign from heaven. Anyway, we’ve started dating, so I won’t be able to go out with you.”
“Well,” Mike thought, “at least I still have Swing Kids.”
