“You made it. I did not think you would accept my invitation.”
The ridden man lurched as he struggled to walk towards me. The audience looked at me in worry and wonder, as I was not counted among the celebrants, and was standing in the section reserved for tourists and photographers.
I lifted my hat slightly in greeting and bowed my head just enough to be rude about it. “As if I could ever refuse an opportunity to be obscene. Though I reserve the right to bitch about your timing. I have some work to attend to tonight.”
It was clear from my tone that I was familiar with the entity being horsed, and clear that the entity was not offended by my breaches of protocol. The man in charge of the ceremony did not know how to proceed as the ridden man grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the tourist area and into the crowd of invitees.
“This one. Is mine. You do not touch her, no matter how much she [acts the dog].” The ridden man’s face had contorted from a leering virile youth into a threatening and twisted contortion as he addressed the Master of Ceremonies. The Master of Ceremonies, to his credit, showed no fear at the display. He nodded and bowed to the ridden man, and then to me.
When the ridden man faced me again, it was with the lecherous and lusty visage that I was familiar with. “Yea, I heard about that. [The son-fucker] can wait. [They you are supposed to ask] already know about that, too. You’ll get to it, when you get to it. Because no one can get to it but you, so don’t let [the son-fucker] pressure you. But right now, I got you. Konprann?”
Shit. He spoke Creole and made sure I understood it. Whatever plans I have for the night just got postponed.
“Sí. Entiendo. Te sirvo esta noche. Pides. Hago.” I bowed my head with sincere formality.
The ridden man started laughing in acknowledgement. He paused only to tease me about not using the formal “usted” when addressing him. I smiled and shrugged. It’s our thing, this grievous disrespect. He started laughing again.
His laughter took on an otherworldly tone. It seized me and dragged me under before my body surrendered to gravity.
It was a long night.