There’s No Escape

Here we are six days into June, and we haven’t even discussed the fact that it is National Accordion Awareness Month.

Be aware!

You can never tell when one of those accordions will sneak up on you.

Trust me, I would know – I grew up attending weddings in Pennsylvania. At those festive events, you could never be sure if somebody was going to bring alcohol for spiking the punch bowl, but you could bet the farm and your bottom dollar that someone would sneak in an accordion.

And the next thing you knew all heck would break loose, and folks would start bustin’ their moves to the (big surprise) Pennsylvania Polka. Of course, one accordion ditty was never enough, so there was sure to be a Hop-Scotch, Licorice Stick, and Hoop-Dee-Doo jam.

As the night wore on, the Beer Barrel Polka was unavoidable – quickly followed by at least three encores of In Heaven There Is No Beer (that’s why we drink it here).

Yep, I have “enjoyed” them all.

In fact, whenever my sister and I hit the floor, nearly everyone stopped to watch. In truth this had nothing to do with our dance skills, and everything to do with our interpretation of polkas…

as, well…

roller derby without the skates.

Accordions make people crazy like that.

Just ask The Who.

They wrote a song about this phenomenon way back in 1975…

Well, they said it was about accordions.

PROMPT: Ironically, the word “accordion” is derived from the German word “akkord” meaning “agreement or harmony.” Today would be a great day to add a touch of irony to your tale. You could also think about what your main character’s favorite musical instrument might be. Then again, you could just YouTube The Who’s Squeeze Box and enjoy.