A Perfect Evening
Answering the phone before checking the name or number on the caller ID is something I don’t
usually do. But I had a good feeling about this and when I heard her voice, my instinct proved
right. A call I thought I’d never receive. After a brief greeting, and before letting me say anything,
she invited me to dinner at her house. Astounded, I said, “I’d love to come.”
“Friday night at eight works for you?” she asked.
“Certainly, I’ll bring a bottle of Shiraz to enhance the romantic ambiance of our evening
together.”
I was dead on time when I knocked on her door. A few anxious moments passed with no
response. I waited a little with stirred-up emotions and knocked a little harder. Then the rhythmic
melody of her footsteps cuddled my ears and when she opened the door, I was captivated by her
eyes. She embraced me and her divine scent caressed my entire soul, a sublime aroma bound to
stay on my skin until the moment I died.
I silently followed her lead inside. In the dining room the table was set for two with a bouquet of
roses in the center and two lit candles. Through her satin blouse, every curve of her body teased
my eyes and every line burnished my desire as she pranced into the kitchen. She slightly opened
the oven door and suddenly aroma of roasted beef inundated the air. I wrestled open the wine
bottle and poured two glasses and handed her one. Overwhelmed by her call, her invitation, and
the warm reception, as we sipped the wine, I was looking for words elegant enough to compensate
her graciousness. She sensed my anxiety and tapped my cold fingers with her warm ones to calm
me down. I didn’t know where to start and she didn’t show any sign indicating I should. I had
nothing to say and she said nothing of the past to validate my remorse. Oh, only if all women of
my life were that considerate.
In a matter of minutes, the golden brown roast lurking in mushrooms, baby carrots, and red
potatoes was on the table. We sat and she served me salad.
“This wine is great. The taste perfectly fits our evening. Thank you.”
I smiled.
“I want us to start a new beginning, I have gone through a lot to prepare for tonight. You can
imagine how difficult it was for me to do so, but I did for our future.”
I lowered my gaze to the sizzling roast not only to avoid the burden of regret but to bask in the
reverie of the perfect evening in the making. Every sip of wine I took was a trickle of fuel added to
my burning desire. I was fantasizing her moment of pain blended in my moments of pleasure, and
so determined to perpetuate my sublime climax engraved in her divine surrender. She poured
more wine, but it’d already performed its magic. Enchanted by her charm, I was thrown into a state
of trance, embracing my sweet moment of submission.
Then she gently reached for the carving knife and I admired her finesse in doing so, raised the
blade tenderly and paused as if she’d doubts about cutting the meat. Then she raised the blade
to her eye level, twisted her wrist to shift the knife toward me. I was dazed by the two flickering
flames, the reflections of two lit candles in her dark eyes when she swiftly thrust the razor sharp
blade through my throat.
Steaming blood spewed out of my neck; she must’ve severed the main artery. Moments later
that seemed an eternity, she finally let go of the knife; it was securely stuck in the thick tissues of
my throat. I still had the glass of wine clutched between my fingers gazing into her shining eyes.
As well as she knew all my quirks, she sensed my concern about getting blood in my wine and
gently tapped on my lifeless fingers to calm me down. Then she carefully removed the glass from
my grip and placed it on the opposite end of the table as blood was raining on my plate. We
exchanged no words during dinner.
She finished her plate as I gurgled and gasped for air before my head sunk to my chest. The
entire tablecloth was drenched in blood when she poured the remainder of the wine for each of us
and savored hers. I watched her delicately remove a tiny shred of meat from between her teeth
with a toothpick, politely covering her mouth with napkin. Before she pulled the knife from my
throat, she just couldn’t resist downing the remainder of my wine.
In a matter of minutes, the rolled up shabby carpet in the corner of the room prepared for this
occasion was spread next to my chair and I was delicately knocked over and fell right onto the
shroud. She straightened my feet and rolled me up to learn my head was sticking out. At first she
seemed a little irritated to see I was taller than the width of the carpet. It’d been almost four years
since we’d last seen each other. She gnawed her wine-stained lips, shrugging her shoulders
signifying “So what?”
She disappeared into the kitchen and returned with ropes, expertly looped them around the
carpet and, tugged me into the hall. She could’ve viciously grabbed my big ears and use them as
handles to drag my corpse but she didn’t. She knew how much I despised it when my teachers
twisted my ears to punish me in school. They turned red and hot and I felt that shameful heat the
entire day. Instead, she seized the other end of the carpet and pulled me toward the basement
until I reached to the first step.
She then sat down, positioned her feet on my shoulders and used the wall behind her for
support, and shoved me down the dark stairs and took a deep breath as I safely thud the ground.
My head bumped on every step, fourteen times to be exact. The ground was already dug and
ready for my arrival. The dirt was neatly piled up along one side and a shovel was standing up in
the pile anxious to conclude the affair. She adjusted me in the grave and began to refill.
I was buried in a matter of minutes and an antique Persian rug covered the entire basement
floor. She then placed the same mahogany desk that I'd given her as a present, right in the center
of the pristine rug to revere our shared memories.
After tending to me, she went upstairs and fixed up the dining room. She couldn’t sleep soundly
if she hadn’t cleaned everything properly. The carving knife, she washed by hand. She would
never put such a sharp item in the dishwasher. It was approaching 11 o’clock when she finally
finished cleaning the mess and the dishes. After taking a scorching hot shower and meticulously
brushing her teeth, she tucked herself into bed with a smile on her face, cherishing our perfect
evening.