It was a sultry Saturday night in Johannesburg,
The venue was an Arab joint called: The Tent,
I was going to dance tonight,
I was in the mood for it...

With youthful Alexia on the one arm, and the urbane Dimitra on the other,
I confidently waltzed into our usual haunt,
We sat and ordered,
“Double Captain Morgan with coke,” barks out Alexia,
“My god,” I thought, she’s only 22 and she’s already an alcoholic,
“Cabernet Sauvignon,” chimes the alluring Dimitra,
Always, suave, always in control,
“The usual for me, Ahmed, and bring us a cherry-flavoured Hookah” this authoritatively from me...

As the rhythm pounded and the alcohol and the Hookah did their job,
The three of us began mellowing,
Mmm, and what a mellowing it was...,
It began as usual with Alexia,
Drawing deeply from the Hookah, she rose from her chair and moved towards me,
Grabbing the back of my neck she pulls me towards her as her lips converge on mine,
I eagerly part them as she blows the sweet aroma of cherry-flavoured tobacco into my mouth and tongues collide,
Her older cousin, not to be outdone,
Undemurely gives me the same treatment,
Aaahhh, now this, is the life...,
And yours truly is in bliss...

The clock chimes midnight,
Time for my fire-dance,
“Ahmed,” I call,
He follows me to centre stage, a full bottle of Johnny Walker Black in his hands,
As the strains of my favourite Greek dirge, “The Statue” begins,
He pours the bottle of scotch in a ring around me and lights it,
The fire engulfs my legs, and I begin to dance,
And dance, and dance, and dance...

Soon there’s a line of women lined up to dance the fire-dance with me,
Non-Greeks, it is exotic for them,
It gives them a temporal edge to their otherwise grey existence,
I comply, consenting to be the dance guru for the night,
And the magic keeps unrolling...,

Next, the belly dancer arrives,
Entwining us all further into the bitter-sweet abyss of excess and release,
She glides from one man to the other,
Teasing us with her forbidden enchantments,
Suddenly, as she wafts by me,
A surprise,
The now almost out-of-control Dimitra grabs her and passionately kisses her,
“Dimitra?”, I’m thinking in a state of shock, “Dimitra?”
“Wow, will wonders never cease...”,
Mercifully, dawn begins to break,
And as the belly dancer flees,
Ahmed begins the usual breakfast, eggs, bacon, waffles and honey...

What a night!!!