It Was 12 Years To The Day, Truly The Bitterest Of Nights This Century, For The Winds Had Knocked Out The Entire Westend Forcing Me To Take Dinner And Reading By Candlelight. I Had Just Settled Into The Storm’s Jazzy Rhythm Against The Derelict Shutters When Came A Hurried Bass Upon My Front Door. My Heart Froze And All At Once Everything Silenced. The Storm, The Winds, Every Aching Shift In The Old Structure’s Bones All Zeroed Onto My Door.
It Announced Again, And With It Came A Single Heartbeat As If To Join The Angry Hand. Again. And Again My Heart Finished The Beat, Each Time The Rhythm Growing More Complex In Its Urgency, Yet Unable To Shake The Attention Of My Fastidious Heart.
Harder.
Faster.
Until Our Solo Became So Complex It Married Seamlessly Back Into The Chaos Of The Resounding Storm, Lifting Me From My Terror And Onto My Feet In Rapturous Step Just As The Wind Began To Howl And This Howl Died Away Into The Open Rapping’s Of My Visitor’s Muffled Voice.
Creditors Or Debtors Deliverin Some Letters. Whatever Doesn’t Matter To The Flash-Bang Rhythm Of That Moment. On And On He Continued, On And On Against The Panel Of My Door, On And On And On And On Upon The Tempo Of The Storm While I Danced And Scat With Joyful Exclamations.
As The Night And The Storm Waned, Sadly So Too Did Our Exchange Until All To Remain Were Distant Bass Lines Fading Out Hushed Vocals.
I Awoke A Quarter After Noon, My Head And Feet Still Reeling From The Night’s Curious Interruption Of What Was Settled To Be A Rather Dull Affair. As I Shuffled Outside To Collect The Paper And Assess Damages However, Neither My Yard, Nor The Neighbor’s And On, Nor Even The Street Carried So Much As A Fallen Leaf.
Dizzyingly I Searched Round And Round From My Door To The Street, Up And Down Searching For Some Remnant Of The Chaos, But There Were Only Playing Children And Lounging Neighbors, Whom By Now Had Begun To Wonder At Me In My Nude But A Top Hat, And Open Cuffs. An Embarrassment Compounded Upon The Stimulating Effect Cool Air Has On My Naked Skin.
As I Removed The Hat To Cover My Rising Member And Apologize, I Felt A Hard Pang Settle Into My Skull, Staggering Me Two Steps Before Dropping First To My Knees, And Then My Face Hit Asphalt With A Hard Plop Swallowed By The Short Reverberations Of A High Ringing Snare.