I had a great night tonight. My neighbors, Sergio and Iris from across the hall invited me to have dinner with them. Iris had been waiting for me to come home all day and started bringing food out as soon as my car pulled into the parking lot.
Pulled pork, barbequed chicken and ribs, Spanish rice, pasta salad. You would have thought they were feeding an army! Iris' son and girlfriend from Brooklyn joined us and the evening turned into a full moon night.
Sergio pulled a speaker from his apartment and we listened to Luther Vandross and Donna Summer and drank wine under the stars. It was wonderful. Iris and I sang stupid disco songs from the 70's and Sergio brought out hot fried plantanos with cilantro and olive oil to dip them in. Usually, I have two speeds: full tilt and stop. Tonight I found another: relax.
I kept looking for a good time to say goodnight and head upstairs but every time I tried either Iris or Sergio would say, "this is how life should be" or "you could never find this kind of night in Brooklyn" and I would believe I was part of what was making the night so special for all of us and would feel compelled to stay and not take a chance of breaking the spell.
I finally said goodnight at 11:00 with a reminder from Sergio that I was invited for breakfast at 11:00 the next morning. I crept into my apartment and shut off the lights taking a last look at the backyard and watched the tiki lights being extinguished, one by one.
Who would have thought such a magical night would have happened in Whitney Point?
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