Lady Jaguarundi

The laughing girl catches me ogling her from across the bar. I'm set in stone momentarily yet manage to bring my eyes back around to Frances, who's telling me about some carnage that happened earlier in her day.  I tune into her story just as a presence appears beside us.

'Fuck was that?'

We turn, both Frances and I, to look at this Amazon. Brown suede skirt to muscled mid-thigh, green velvet spaghetti top, eyes like a jaguarundi ready to kill. Frances is confused. It's going pear-shaped. I clap loudly.

'Julio!' I shout, 'music, please.'

Rising with the initial trumpet salute, I bow curtly to this righteous beauty. 'Excuse my rudeness, madame. I could not help myself.' I smile in my most humble mien and ask if she will dance. The rhythm section's really kicking-in now, which helps. She takes my left hand high and allows me in closer to rest my right hand on the small of her back.

Frances and Carmel squeeze out of the booth to join the hussle. Julio's Big Bonanza hit a high note and the fun begins.

***

Later that night, after I've allowed Selima to punish my bad behaviour thoroughly, we sit out on my wide sandstone window ledge, sharing a bottle of cucumber flavoured water, having a toke.  The warmth of the sun-heavy stone rises up through my naked body from where it's making contact, giving strength to my limbs that I might fly.  

I ask her, 'Selima, suppose I just flew. Floated here out in front of you. What would you do?' And here it is my turn to be surprised. She passes me the water bottle and leans forward like an Olympic diver about to show us something special, and then she just kind of falls off into nothingness. Now there are no ripples to see in the air, but I imagine them ripplydipply out from her strong shoulders as she treads there, floating just in front of me. Her breasts slightly buoyed as if we are really in the ocean. But no, I check, it's just me on a windowsill, and this beautiful crazy woman mocking my legendary confidence with a trick so audacious I cannot believe my eyes. I take a deeper toke.