Reading: "Dead Cities of the Stars" from the novel Rituals of the Antithetical (A.Glass 2023). *I will be doing a reading every 3 weeks from my current book 'Rituals of the Antithetical'. I have a new book due at some point in the future.*

"That is when it occurred, actually before the man arrived. She was already aroused. At the time I wasn’t overly aware, but I knew what was going to happen. I knew what she was.”
Deliah straightens herself, reaching forward, as the spicy scent of the incense begins to emanate around her and Dalens, lifting her glass she has a final gulp of her Rum. Placing the empty glass down. She feels that throb in her lower pelvis begin again, as her clitoris has become more sensitive, pushed up against the fabric of her gym pants. Slowing her breathing down, trying to control her desire, so that she can concentrate on Dalens past visions.
“What was she?” Deliah asks, aware of what Dalens will be implying.
“She was of that era, between the contraceptive pill and AIDS. A very different time. Married, but had so many lovers, up until the late Nineteen Eighties. She enjoyed sex, like it was a glass of wine and a cigarette. A necessity for her, a need that in so many ways went beyond the sexual.”
“Like a meditation?”
“Yes, without being overly aware of any spiritual reasoning to her actions. She just did it.”
“And the husband never knew?”
“Hard to say, but I don’t think so. Although he was no saint himself. Put it this way, there was a contrast of looks between him and her. Therefor she was more capable in her array of lovers. From what I know years after, is she became more discreet as opposed to her earlier trysts. Their marriage ended in the mid Nineties, yet what I know occurred throughout the mid and late Eighties, she was very prolific with her sexual interactions.”
“But, she knew that you knew?”
“She did, we formed a relationship over the years, it was intimate, although not sexually intimate as such. It was something different. I absorbed a lot of her energy as a young teenager. Conjuring within her sexual realm, obviously through her scent and physical presence. Anyway, there was an earlier interaction when she was not as discreet. Her son, my friend at the time, and husband were out of town. So, her urgency to be intimate was with this man that called her up on the day visible obvious. And I witnessed it all.”

New York City, 1982

From Chloe MacLeod’s son’s room, Dalens peers through the keyhole, as he sees the man, who was lying next to Chloe, now in a quicken manner walking towards the McLeod's bedroom, closing the door after him. Placing his left ear against the wooden door, he hears a quietness, only the creaking of floorboards. He then hears Chloe’s faint moan, with quietened sounds of movement. In a slight manner, Dalens opens the door and very carefully walks across to where the McLeod's door is opposite, looking through the keyhole he sees a naked Chloe lying down on the edge of the bed with the man on his knees, with his head between her legs. He hears more moans from Chloe, she then taps the man on his left shoulder with her right index finger, to which he stands as she looks up at him.
“Quickly,” she whispers.

___

Reading:  "DEAD CITIES OF THE STARS" from RITUALS of the ANTITHETICAL (A.Glass 2023)