Song For Maria

Juan Gutierrez was restless. Maria, his wife, had gone to Mexico for a month-long visit with her parents and siblings. That was three weeks ago and he missed her terribly. She was the heart and soul of his life. He missed her cheerful bustling around the apartment. He missed the flash of her eyes. He missed her full strong laughter in the face of all life's problems. He missed her body.

How he missed her body. Her rich brown skin. Her deep brown hair. The wave-like sway of her breasts. The earthy swing of her bottom. He yearned for another of those mornings when he could lay in bed and watch her move around the room, naked, in the light of the new sun. He loved her so much. Seeing her was food for his soul. Making love with her was a banquet of the bounty of the earth and the deep waters of the spirit spiced with laughter and intense sensation. She was the only woman who brought the whole of life into focus for him.

He picked up his violin from its stand not far from the open window. He was a very accomplished musician. In his mind he'd been working on a composition for his Maria and he longed to play it for her. He began to play it now. He felt the deep power of his longing enter his fingers and he played as he'd never played before.

The apartment building in which Juan Gutierrez lived was an old one and the sounds of his passionate hunger, translated into music, moved out and into windows, slipped through cracks, slid through air ducts, and made the walls and floors resonate. And all those who heard his song of desire were deeply moved.

In the apartment below, Annie De Pauw, a wounded and lonely single woman with a long string of failed relationships, was lying in bed reading. She was struggling to hold the quart container of ice cream and keep the book open at the same time with one hand while using the other hand to spoon ice cream into her mouth. Her four cats were sprinkled around the bedspread. Moments after the strains of Juan's music entered her consciousness trembling tears began to slide down her face.

Next door Don and Ashley Klingendorfer, a couple in their 60s, with almost 40 years of marriage behind them, were watching TV. It was when Don hit the mute button on the remote that they became aware of the thrilling intensity of sound flowing in through their partly opened window. They looked across the room at each other. It was as if they were seeing the other's face for the first time.

In the ground floor apartment furthest from Juan's, Russell Carter, a man living with his lover Bill Mosher, was surfing the Internet for images of gay porn. He often did this when Bill was at work; sitting naked for hours in front of the monitor with his cock in one hand while he used the mouse to navigate with the other. He was the last of the four to become aware of the powerful music. When he did he went into the dark kitchen to open the window in order to hear better. It filled him with a mix of strong emotions.

At this point Juan wasn't playing the parts in sequence. There were several that he felt needed work and he focused on them to see if he could find the perfect melodic phrasing. Due to the strength of his longing for Maria, and with the image of her beauty in his mind, he found that the ideas flowed easily and clicked into place. A wild exhilaration began to grow inside him as he felt a rush of creative power he'd never experienced before.

Annie was sobbing. She'd put the ice cream on the nightstand and the book on the bedspread. Her four companions were looking at her in alarm. She pushed back the blankets and the bedspread, swung her legs out, and stood. She felt all stirred up. She didn't know why she was crying. Her body was flooded with all the signs of sexual arousal for no reason she could find. Her hands pulled at her nightdress, bunching it up in her fingers. She wondered if she was going crazy.

Suddenly she had to be naked. Usually she didn't like to be naked. To see herself. But it seemed okay now. She wanted to see herself. She pulled the nightdress over her head and threw it on the floor.

Don and Ashley looked at each other. Theirs had been a largely nonphysical relationship for a number of years but now the old fire flashed between them. Don felt himself becoming erect, something that hadn't happened in a long time.

"Juan's finally getting that piece worked out," Don said. He'd been a high school music teacher and often talked to Juan about composition.

"It's making me horny," Ashley said.

"Me too," her husband replied. "I'm even getting hard."

"Oh yeah?" His wife said. "This I gotta see." She crossed the room, knelt down beside Don's armchair, and pulled down the zipper of his pants. Squirreling around in his boxers with her hand she quickly found the prize and lifted it into view. "God lover, it's beautiful." Don felt very proud of himself.

Ashley leaned over and took him in her mouth. She'd forgotten how much she'd enjoyed this. She loved hearing Don's moans of pleasure. She felt his fingers running gently through her hair.

The urge to be naked struck them both at the same time. Don struggled out of the chair and Ashley rose to her feet with some difficulty. They laughed together at the awkwardness of trying to get out of their clothes quickly. Soon they were looking at their partner's body, the body they'd known for so long. But tonight there was something different.

Russell was standing in the darkness in confusion. He'd immediately sensed the erotic energy pulsing in the music Juan was making but his thoughts weren't going where he was trying to guide them. He was trying to bring up the images he'd seen on his computer monitor but over and over his thoughts returned to Bill, his lover. For almost a year he'd felt closed in by his relationship with Bill. He'd begun to think about all the men he would never know in a sexual way. He felt he was missing something. So it confused him now to find himself thinking of the intimate moments he and Bill had shared. He was unable to hold the image of another man in his mind for more than a second or two. He resisted the flow of his thoughts stubbornly until finally, realizing the futility of his efforts, he relaxed.

At this moment he became aware of his nakedness. He moved into the light of the living room and enjoyed the ebony hues of his skin.

Juan, eager to capture all the new ideas he'd just generated, turned on his digital recording equipment and began to play his new composition in its entirety. As he played he felt as if his soul connected with Maria's and now she was with him. His spirit went into another world while his body continued to play the violin in this one.

Annie was sitting up in her bed, her back against the headboard. She ran her hands over her body. Rivulets of tears poured down her face and fell onto her breasts. Liquid diamonds of compressed pain were being washed out of her, leaving space for something else. She almost never masturbated but now she began to. She spread her legs and explored. Now that the pain was out of her body it felt good. It felt very good. She spread her legs wider.

Ashley had led Don to the couch and then reclined on her back, opening herself to him. He touched her, feeling her wetness. This too hadn't happened for a long time. They usually had to use an artificial lubricant. He had two fingers inside her, delighting in her obvious arousal. They looked into each other's eyes and saw their own wonder and passion reflected there. He knelt between her knees and entered her.

"Oh Honey, that feels so good," Ashley sighed. "Oh God, it feels good."

Russell began stroking his cock. He went to his computer and tried pulling up one of the images he'd been excited by earlier but it just didn't interest him. It was like an old piece of gum with all the flavor chewed out. He turned off the computer and thought of Bill, of all they'd shared together. Of how much they really meant to each other. He stroked himself more vigorously as the images flowed through his mind, images filled with warmth, and passion, and tenderness. He was amazed at how turned on he was. The feelings of arousal in response to what he'd seen on the Internet paled in comparison.

Juan found himself observing his physical body as if it was only one small part of his totality. He was aware of a power he'd never known before flowing through him, out into the world. He listened, as if from a distance while knowing no distance existed, as the part of himself playing the violin began the final movement.

Annie was fingering herself frantically, caught up in the pleasure that moved like tingles of electricity through her belly. She felt herself moving towards orgasm. Her tears had subsided for the most part but there were still lingering flashes of pain and fear. At the moment they struck she would lose her momentum for several seconds and she'd feel her orgasm recede. But the music carried her past these interruptions. As she sensed her climax drawing closer and closer a new, and almost alien, feeling began to fill the space where the pain had been. Hope. It flooded in, pouring into her heart. Now she was crying again but these were tears of joy. And then her orgasm was there. She was yelling but didn't know it. She was crying out in celebration.

Don and Ashley clutched each other in delight. They thought they'd forgotten. But they hadn't. They remembered all the special touches, the special moves, the intimate sounds, that created the deepest response in their partner's mind and body. They danced together as they had so many times before when they were younger. But now, it seemed, although their bodies weren't as agile as they'd been, they were connecting at a deeper level than, in their youth, they'd ever dreamed existed. With intuitive certainty they sensed each others passion rising and quickened their movements.

"Kiss me, Oh God, kiss me," Ashley moaned, feeling herself overtaken.

Don leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers. Her lips were hot and urgent. Her tongue tangled with his. She was screaming her pleasure into his mouth. He felt himself erupt.

Russell was sitting in his computer chair with legs spread, leaning back, his eyes closed. He was carefully skirting the edge of orgasm, moving his hand as needed, quickly or slowly, in order to keep himself there. He was yearning for Bill now. He wondered how he ever could have thought that having sex with a variety of strangers was something important. In his mind he was making love with his dearest Bill. They were looking into each other's eyes, open to the sensations they shared. His hand was moving faster. He was ready now. "This is for you, Bill. This is for you," he moaned. The white semen pulsed out onto the black skin of his belly.

Juan, returning to this world, pulled the violin from under his chin in a daze. He could only remember fragments of his ecstatic journey. For almost fifteen minutes he just stood there, trying to gather himself together. Finally he went over to his recording equipment and skipped to the beginning of the piece he'd just played. Yes, it was there. He marveled at the sound of it. He found it hard to believe that that was actually him playing. All at once he realized he felt very very tired. Turning off his equipment and the lights he stumbled towards the bedroom

Annie lay in her bed, very relaxed and at peace. She felt as if a great weight had been lifted. She followed the thoughts that moved like skitter bugs across the water. She thought of Juan and Maria. She'd often seen them together but always a black cloud of pain had fallen over her. All she could see was that they had what she didn't have. And her heart would close. But now, with the pain gone, she realized she needed to find a man like Juan. A man who knew the language of his heart and wasn't afraid to speak. A man very different from the men she'd found herself seeking out in the past. With sudden resolve she sat up. She saw the ice cream on the nightstand and without hesitation dropped it in the wastebasket. A moment later the book, a romance novel, followed. She stood up, actually liking the feel of her body, and began to pace with growing excitement. She would call her friend Cynthia, she decided. The friend she'd been avoiding for so long because Cynthia would always ask if she was getting out, doing things. Perhaps it was time. Cynthia would know where to start. Ashley and Don were cuddling, holding each other on the couch and quietly kissing. They hadn't known this kind of contentment for a long time.

"We should ask Juan if we could have a tape of that music so we could play it every night," Don said.

"Every night?" Ashley laughed. "Are you really up to satisfying me every night, you old goat?"

"With that music I think I might be."

"Oh God, Don, that would be so wonderful," Ashley sighed, melting. They pulled each other close, seeing the happy tears in the other's eyes.

Russell was whistling as he moved purposefully around the apartment. He found the candles, the scented ones, and the massage oil. He cleaned the bedroom and changed it around in order to create a little bower for love. He placed the candles and prepared the oil, laying a large towel over the comforter. At last it was ready. His Bill was going to be in for a real treat when he got home from work.

Juan lay for a moment at the edge of sleep filled with the exultation of an artist who knows he has found the perfect expression for a particular piece of art. He was unaware how deeply he'd touched the lives of four people, his neighbors. He was totally ignorant of the fact that within three years his recording of "Song For Maria", released initially on a very small label only to be snatched up within two months by the biggest in the business, would transform the lives of every person living on this planet.