National Night Out 2008

Our first whiff of it came bobbing past in the form of a balloon, clinging statically to the head of a little girl, a sticky princess' sausage crown. Under one arm, LA style, she held a pink balloon poodle. Her parents folded her sleepy form into a minivan and rolled the heavy door shut.
Kenneth and I looked at each other.
"Oh yeah, there's that thing tonight..."
We had just stepped out for some fresh air, but it was getting dark fast. We would have turned back at that point, but up ahead - Lights! Banners! Glow sticks and blinky buttons!
"Let's go!" I said, but Kenneth didn't feel quite safe about it. This is a don't-go-out-after-dark neighborhood, but there were little kids shuffling past us in sandals, smelling of hot dogs and danger.
I dragged him down the block to a police barricade, where 3 or 4 officers stood upon podiums of shiny white Segway, and then we saw the banner announcing National Night Out, presented by the neighborhood crime watch. There was a child seat safety information booth, people handing out glow sticks, raffle ticket hawkers, and a stand selling pina colada in the empty pineapple shell! I'm pretty sure those hot dogs were bacon wrapped, as well. Edie immediately began to claw her way out of the babyhawk carrier, using my hair for leverage (my hair is starting to have some weird layering effects from all the havoc she wreaks), and looked around in utter amazement at this sudden crowd of people, flashing lights, noises and smells.
The event was scheduled to run from six until nine pm, and we got there at eight thirty. Just in time to feast eyes on some shiny lowrider cars, and see a performance by four female dancers.

Aztec dancers. A little bit like this:


They were shiny and flashy and ranged widely in age. A little girl, a medium-sized girl, an almost-woman, and a mother-woman. They were like Vegas showgirls who had gone back in time to start an ancient tradition with big feathers.
Edie.
Was.
Riveted.
Watching her face open in amazement, slack jawed and bug eyed, brought tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat. Holding her above my head for a good view, I could feel her tiny heart beat faster between my fingers, keeping perfect time with the relentless drum. She soaked it all in, delighted and terrified, turning occasionally to look at the people in the crowd - "Are you guys catching this?" Every so often a cheer escaped her to soar in the air - she just couldn't keep it caged. The dancers were running, and their feet were singing like rain! They were spinning in circles, with ribbons of flame streaming out from their heads like the sun. Their gold and silver costumes flashed and sparkled like a late afternoon stream, and the drummer made earthquakes in our skin.

We left awestruck, with glow sticks.
Kenneth's right hand dueled Kenneth's left hand in a light saber battle of miniature proportions.
And Jinx is missing again.