come fly with me.

The moon had been creeping its way through the blinds for several

nights in a row.

He lay in his bed, which was tiger-striped by moonlight and blinds, and stare back at the satellite through the slits in the horizontal vinyl.

His eyes wandered down to his arms and legs, which were also adorned with soft-grey and dark black lines.

A window on the other side of the room, framed by red curtains, was left open as it was the only way to combat the insufferable heat of mid summer in his small apartment that overlooked a small alley in the city.

A somewhat dreary view, but at least it was something to look at.

Buildings. Bricks and mortar.

While going over the events that had occurred during his day in his mind, he lay there but his attention was drawn to something that was coming

from outside.

“Come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly away…”

He knew the classic Sinatra tune right away, regardless of how quietly it was being sung in the stale summer air.

He made his way to the open window and looked down into the alley below.

In the moon-bleached passage, there was nothing.

Save for the normal alleyway stuff, trash, bins, pallets etc.

But the song was definitely coming from some dark corner of

the city backstreet.

He began to lean out of his window, putting his hands on the sill so that we could crane his way out of the window.

He couldn’t find a source of the wispy, soft female vocals.

“Come fly with me down to Peru, In llama land there’s a one man band…”

Some small movement on the farthest reach of the alley, now a rolling bottle.

His eyes followed the path the bottle had taken back to a

cluster of shadows.

And he could see the outline of a young woman.

Hard to see from 5 stories up, but there was someone there.

He leaned further out the window now, to see if he could get a better

look at her.

She stepped closer to the light and he could see a little more of her.

His right hand crept up to the curtain of the window, which he grabbed onto and began to use to lean further out the into the warm night.

And she moved a step closer to the light and her song seemed to fill his head.

“Once I get you up there where the air is rarified, We’ll just glide, starry eyed…”

Half of his body now hung out of the window, supported only by the

single red curtain that he clung to.

And with each inch of red, soft fabric slip that he let slip through his hand,

she drew closer to the light.

He could almost see her.

He had to see her.

He NEEDED to see her.

The thought of seeing the face of the beautiful girl serenading was driving

him mad.

“You just say the words and we’ll beat the birds, Down to Acapulco Bay…”

Then there was a knock at his door, and hit started him so that he

almost fell from his 5^th story window.

His heart raced.

Christ that was close… he thought to himself.

He made his way to the door and opened it.

There stood the girl from the alley, the one who had been singing to him.

He was speechless.

She smiled and asked, “may I come in?”

To which he said, “yes” with his eyes twinkling.

She moved through the threshold of the apartment in her short red dress.

Her pale skin and dark hair gave him chills.

She sat him down on the couch in this living room.

“Who are you? What’s your name? How did you get up here so fast…”

he began to spout questions.

She moved her fingers to his slips and whispered, “shhhh.”

In the next moment she was on top of him kissing him hard and

running her hands and fingers through his hair and all over his back.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed hard back.

He pulled back and buried his face in her bosom, breathing in deep

to take in the sweet perfume she was wearing.

That night they made love and the days after were spent together.

The time seemed to fly by.

Dating.

Fighting.

Making up.

Travelling.

Moving in.

Proposing.

Marriage. (They danced to “Come Fly With Me” for their first dance)

House.

Kids.

In what seemed to be a blink of an eye he lay on his deathbed.

Worn and tired from his full life with his beautiful, mysterious wife,

the same that had serenaded him on a stale summer night.

She sat on the bed next to him, holding his hand smiling at him.

“Thank you,” she quietly crooned.

“Thank you for what?” he asked.

A thin smile drew across her old face, “for dinner.”

He woke from his dream moments before hitting the pavement.

The ground rushing towards him so fast, he didn’t have time to realize

that there had never been a knock at his door.

That he had let too much curtain through his grasp and that he had

indeed fallen, a full 5 stories.

And that all the moments that had been part of what he had believed to be his life, were all due to the siren’s song.

“Come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly. Pack up, Let’s fly away.”

She exposed herself fully to the moonlight now.

Her pale, scaly, rough skin and long, curved claws were now fully visible.

She tilted her head back and sent out a screech, to let the others know that it was time to eat.