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The street is dark and full of mischief. Lanterns and candles and skeletons with painted faces appear out of the darkness and disappear. I might be nervous if my hand was not held tightly in his; if he wasn’t running before me, looking back with that look that I know means that no harm can come to me. No one has ever made me feel this way, safe, but he does. His dark eyes flash with reflected light.
People sing loudly as they dance past us laughing. He is part of this wild world but at the same time also a stranger like me. Since I first lived on my own my house has been filled with relics from this place - rusted metal grave markers and crucifixes, red and black woven fabrics and dark carved wooden creatures. Dried red chillis brush against my face as we twist through the portico of another café. People are shouting and drinking frosted beers with lime and tequila with salt. He darts left into a small alley and pulls me to him. It’s the middle of the night now and, away from the lanterns, the back streets of this small town are filled only with blue moonlight and long moon shadows. I can taste the lime on his lips as he kisses me deeply. I am breathless. I can feel the heat from his body pressed against mine and my head spins. I smile knowing that this amazing night will still end with his skin against mine, my long fingers in his black hair.
And then we are back in the streets. Above our heads float candle-lit icons beautifully painted in reds and golds. The baby Jesus, crying golden tears. Mary with outstretched arms and gilden halo. Men who look like cowboys lean on a rusted gate and another café spins past with someone aggressively strumming a guitar.
There are colours everywhere - pink and yellow paper flowers and embroidered shawls on balconies, little girls with white lace dresses and purple sashes carrying flowers. The air erupts with the rapid ‘pop’ of firecrackers, blaring horns and the smell of fire-roasted meat.
My head is swimming with tequila and excitement and I don’t care where we are going, just that we are here in this amazing place now. Away from our ‘real’ lives we are somehow so much more alive, more free to live this night completely. We can be anything we want tonight. With unspoken complicity we choose the role of lovers. Not the kind that exclude but the kind that spills over and infects strangers with kindness and joy. Old ladies offer us flowers and people grin knowingly as they pass us in slow motion.
I have to stop to breathe. I feel as though we have been running since we me. We never stop talking, too many stories to tell and we barely sleep. Much later we lie side by side in the darkness and play with the energy field between us, hoping not to break the spell.