Couldnt get her out of my head that night. My legs walking to her, stopping into bars along the way. Was that Deliah’s voice? Heading up Munjoy Hill, street light spilling onto the ground, nodding to folks as I pass by. Confident by the sounds of my shoes hitting the pavement, expensive shoes only a successful man wears, yet I’m walking back, walking back. That’s her voice, there she is singing just like I met her, the bird I captured, now in that apartment, that cage, that miserable cage. How I long for her again the way it was—she motions me to come up. The apartment is in shambles, clothes strewn about, bottles, shambles. I pick her up and carry her where I want, the bedroom. I need to feel Deliah’s legs around me, need to feel Deliah’s touch, need to feel Deliah. She embraces me, doesn’t resist. “It’s okay, baby, it’s alright, your body is meant to be held. Come here, lie on my chest, let me hold you, baby. There there, sweet Deliah, world can’t hurt you now, you’re right in my arms, right where you need to be. Feeling your skin, soft and smooth, Deliah, my delight. We can lie like this forever, baby, like this forever.”
“Take me, Henry, take me.”
“Oh baby, baby.” Those soft lips, those warm thighs. “Baby, you still do it for me, my delight, Deliah delight.”
“Oh Henry.” She pushes her breasts up for my mouth to meet, and I thrust inside her, all the while she’s moaning, the backboard banging, just like the old days. The inevitable comes, the crying—here she goes, why did she have to go and ruin it for me? I placate her, although I know I need to leave before I’m trapped again, in this cage, and go home to my real woman, Beah, who takes care of me. Not like this place, she knows how to care for her man. Poor Deliah, she is a broken bird, she doesn’t know how. I put her sleepy head on the pillow, get my clothes on, ignore her pleas, and leave with her scent on me.