Back in touch with Claudia

At the time, in Kana, I was thrilled to have coincided with Claudia. What amazed me was my approach to the whole ordeal. I didn’t even have a chance to plan anything, I was there and she was right in front of me. As if I had seen her the night before, I hardly waved her way with a light smile and confidently made my way through. Then I took Dalida out to dance. I was bumping against her and I felt empowered by the commotion that surrounded the loud conversation and laughs that came from Claudia’s camp. Shortly after, I asked Jorge to let me deejay and he acceded. I screw up briefly but I don’t think many people notice my novice attempt. Then I went up to her and took her to dance. I am not sure if this was the correct order of the events. I was downing beer after beer. Now the day is dragging and the feeling of plenitude that I experienced that night has finally waned. At the time, I was a god and now I’m just another mortal overcome by anxiety who doesn’t seem able to come up with two fair sentences of the whole thing. That’s to show that certain things are not waiting around forever. I should have written about this right there and then. Now my mind is somewhere else. Oh, well. Let’s stick to the script.
I asked her to dance not long after I had danced and deejay. As we were dancing, I remember fragments of our conversations. I know I opened my mouth and said I had been published. The same mistake I had done with Dalida. But with Dalida, and her condition of a friend, it’s not quite as bad. So, there, I said it. In fact, I have used my only poem up to date as an excuse to gather all of my friends and have a blast. What good is art if you can’t use it as an excuse to party and go wild with the ones you love? She asked me about Paola and I said honestly that I didn’t know since I hadn’t seen my sister. I should have kept the conversation casual. I should have said simply that my sister is okay, thanks for asking. I should have kept my focus on her. What I did, though, was tell her I will give her a call and then faking a memorizing process asked if her number was still so and so. I have memorized her number but I have also been afraid of having made a numerical error in the memorizing of it. In fact, part of telling her whether that was her number or not was to make sure that it actually was. She was impressed. I didn’t call her in a very long time and here I was reciting her number with her area code in its entirety. I dropped her cordially after that dance. After a while, I came around and asked her to dance once again. And yet again, she accepted.
I got a cell-phone, finally, the other day. Among the first to receive a text-message from me was Claudia. Three weeks and a half had passed since that fateful night in Kana. The text-message read: “Thanks for the dance. I will call you soon.” She called me a while after. I was at the time celebrating a wedding on a Tuesday night. I said I was at a party and she derided at the idea of a party on a Tuesday. Clever girl, nothing escapes her perspicacity. I asked her if she would be attending my party of celebration for the publication of one of many other poems to come. She said that I should let her know and that “you know I will make all that is possible to be there.”