When I was young (say, 15 years ago) I used to go out a lot. My friends and sometimes my sister would go to any outdoor free thing, especially if music or food was involved. We used to see this guy everywhere, dancing. I never knew his name or anything about him except that he always wore a fatigue-green shirt and he was an enthusiastic, if not particularly rhythmic dancer.
After the first couple of times we saw him; we got to where we looked for him. Seeing him was a stamp of coolness that made us feel we were in the right place. We weren’t the only ones. Between sets, he would dance to whatever filler music was coming out of the speakers. People would come up to him and shake his hand. They looked so happy! Like they were meeting their favorite rock star. Green Shirt Guy would stop dancing long enough to be polite then he would go right on dancing.
I wonder what happened to him. I guess he got a new shirt and moved on. Maybe he got a job or got married. Maybe he has kids in a magnet school. I was pretty well connected in those days but no one seemed to know anything about him. He seemed to show up alone and dance then disappear.
Once I went to see the Band at the Market Street Performance Hall. I was newly married and a little down. My husband bought tickets to the show to cheer me up. I was dancing when I noticed a commotion beside me. Green Shirt Guy was dancing next to me! Everyone was coming up to him, telling him how great he was and I was close enough to him to be mistaken as his girlfriend. I pretended we were together and smiled at his fans. Several of them told me how lucky I was. I said “I know.” Maybe they saw my wedding ring and thought we were married. We didn’t talk, me and him. We smiled at each other a couple of times and kept dancing. My husband didn’t mind, he was excited to be near Green Shirt Guy too.
Tags: back in the day, Chattanooga, dancing, Green Shirt Guy, Riverbend
