The Saxophonist 4

And so it was that Moses and I were hidden in this dark place, the only place where we could be alone for those precious minutes before needs must he return to his job, and his wife. We held on to each other, both of us acutely aware of how fleeting this moment of joy was. I stroked his face and his moustache and ran my fingers across his cheek. Moses took my hand and pressed it against his lips. "I want to be with you always Moses..." the words spilled out of my mouth before I realised I had said them. He pulled me close and hugged me tightly and as I clung to him my cheek brushed against the stubble on his chin. "How can we baby?" he asked, whispering into the back of my neck as he held me, his breath causing a tingling sensation. "You understand how things are, don't you?"

"Yes", I replied, my head resting on his shoulder, "I do understand, but.." I did not know how to say what I was thinking. Indeed I didn't even know what to think. Here was I with a man whom I met only a few days ago, but with whom I had become almost obsessed. In the last couple of hours I had found out he has a wife, but I had also learned that he is just as interested in me as I am in him. Where would this lead us? I wondered. And just then as if he knew what I was thinking, he blurted out, "Don't worry, it'll be alright. We'll work it out somehow." In reply I said "I don't wish to cause you trouble, you know...but the truth is that nobody has made me feel as I do now..." Moses responded by pulling back and looking into my eyes. In his eyes I saw that this man felt exactly the same way as I did. 

When suddenly reality came crashing down on us. Moses had to go back inside the club to join the band. Oh, how time flies when you least want it to. We stared at each other like two conspirators, and smiled, the feeling of guilt was mutual.

We walked back to the Shrine, consciously making the effort to look innocent. I knew after this brief but enjoyable encounter that I'd had with Moses, there would be no other chance to be alone with him tonight. He understood that I lived in a student hostel on the campus at the university and I knew he lived with his wife. So the only chance we were going to have to be together again was here at the Shrine, on another day. It was clear to me that I would become a regular visitor to this place for the foreseeable future.

At the end of the show that night I lingered inside the club not wanting to let Moses out of my sight for as long as I could manage it. He was good. He would steal glances at me but I knew he was being careful because Grace was right there, up front by the stage. Apparently, she was well known by the staff and the other musicians, which was lucky, because chatting with them kept her from noticing that Moses was not concentrating fully on what he was doing with the musical equipment. I moved slowly towards the exit in the now near empty hall and stopped to wave goodbye to Moses. With my hands I signalled that I would be here next Tuesday. He nodded and smiled. I knew then that I was enamoured with this man.