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Five Star, "Let Me Be The One"

Posted by Luminator on March 4, 2017 at 22:21:03:
Friday was Hinamatsuri, Doll's Day in Japan. Several audiophiles tell me that, of all the girls I have written about, my very first high school classmate, Hina, is their favorite. They wanted me to write about a song which was associated with Hina [she went by that truncated form of her middle name, Hinalani].

In July 1985, as summer school was winding down, Hina borrowed, from one of her friends, a Five Star cassette. Five Star were a family act, kind of a British DeBarge, Jackson 5, or The Jets. Lead singer Denise, then only 17, had braces. That was something we high school kids identified with. Yes, in '85, I had braces.

Regardless of music, when the round and comely Hina danced, she was smooth, never jerky or fast. You'd notice that, whichever her moves, her head amazingly did not bob up and down much in the vertical plane. That was in stark contrast to all the other bouncy high schoolers. I still don't know how Hina was able to dance that way. Maybe that was a result of her hula lessons.

Hina and her friends were well-to-do, stylish, friendly, and calm. They weren't stuck up or snooty. Naturally glamorous, they did not need to scream for attention. I was just an entering freshman, while Hina and her friends were seniors. To me, they seemed popular, but didn't appear to be aggressive, in taking part in student government and the like.

But they did hold sway. During the end-of-summer-school dance, Hina's friends would hover around the DJ. I wouldn't doubt if they had pull, and got the DJ to play some of their faves.

Hina was my Oceanography deskmate, lab partner, and swim buddy. That class required shoes in the classroom. But for the dance, there was no such requirement, and Hina wore white-colored, open-toe, low-heel dress shoes. Hina's lovely blue toenails showed through.

I didn't know a soul at that school [Punahou, Barack Obama's alma mater], so if it weren't for Hina and her friends, I wouldn't have had anyone to bring out to the dance floor. Was I lonely and self-conscious as heck? Of course. Her friends perhaps cajoling the DJ to play Five Star's "Let Me Be The One," Hina gracefully summoned me from in front of the retracted bleachers (the dance was held in the gym). She took my hand, and led me into the throngs of students. She smiled pleasantly, stood about a foot in front of me, and did a slower, slinky, snake-like side-to-side rhythm, to the song.

And for one brief moment, mesmerized by the sweet and humane Hina, I lost the self-consciousness, sort of forgot where I was, and felt touched by, not an angel, but one of humankind's good souls. As the song came to an end, Hina softly held my hand, raised it, let go, winked, and let me drift back to being a wallflower.

Thereafter, every time I heard "Let Me Be The One," it served as a reminder that, in the next four years of high school, I never would have another classmate that benevolent, merciful, and compassionate. And nope, I myself would never be half as tenderhearted as Hina.

-Lummy The Loch Monster