...by elfin
featuring "Like A Prayer", Madonna Characters copyright JMS and Babylonian Productions
Cafe Mystery
whisps of smoke rise from some of the tables in the darkly lit cafe. In the centre of the stage at the back of the room, a single microphone has been picked out of the fog by a lone spotlight. Around the floor of the cafe, tables are occupied by couples and groups. The resident doctor and his alien friend, closed up together in a dark, more private booth against a wall; two outlaws thrown together by fate, held there by need and desire; a blond tanned beauty and a dark charmer pressed close, their lips now and again finding one another's, chuckling over private jokes; an agent there with his boss, held tightly in the possesive circle of his arms as laughter and joy light their faces. On one table, fairly near the front, a man with a destiny sits alone, a deep crystal glass in his hands, the amber liquid contained therein merging with his eyes in the dim, reflective light. The arrival of a darkened figure, clothed in black, on the stage lifts his head and adds a sparkle to his eyes. A single chord echos from the powerful speakers, and the man on the stage looks up, into the audience, saphire eyes searching out the one man he is going to sing for. Eyes lock, liquid amber with a summer sky as the man on the stage lifts his voice to join the chord; quiet and mysterious but sure.
"Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone, I hear you call my name and it feels like.. home"
The thumping bass beat adds to the building Latin rhythm; the song, with it's audience, starts to swing; underlying emotion laced with desire in the voice singing the words.
"When you call my name, it's like a little prayer, down on my knees, I wanna take you there..."
Others in the audience are rising to their feet, taking partners - lovers - into their arms and moving, the man on the stage is hearing the words as he sings them to the eyes that are now closer to him.
"In the midnight hour, I can feel your power, just like a prayer you know I'll take you there..."
The music; the rhythm and the beat are infectious, soon the room is pulsing as hips are pressed to hips, arms reach out to hold, hands to touch and fingers to caress. The man, whose voice is echoing the power of the song and the strength of his spirited love for his friend, feels the music take hold. He closes his eyes and moves his body, letting the words flow out of him.
"I hear your voice, it's like an angel sighing, I have no choice I hear your voice, feels like flying. I close my eyes, oh God I think I'm falling, out of the sky I close my eyes, heaven help me."
The singer reaches out to his lover as the words drip from his lips, every syllable a seductive caress to the other man's ears. Close to the stage, hands flat on the wooden boards, he is watching. As the hand is stretched toward him he smiles, and blows a small kiss of possession and desire. No man has moved him this way before, stirred his feelings into a whirl of pleasure and something else, something deeper, almost desperate. Like needing so bad it hurts until you get it. The words are sung for him and to him; and he loves it.
"Like a child, you whisper softly to me, you're in control, just like a child, now I'm dancing... It's like a dream, no end and no beginning, you're here with me, it's like a dream, let the choir sing."
In the centre of the room, among the others, the doctor is pressed against his strange lover, singing the words quietly, echoing the sentiment because he understands the feeling that is going into the singing from the stage. The performer has raised his arm, a hand reaching to the ceiling, head back, eyes closed, letting the words come from his heart and soul.
"Just like a prayer, your voice can take me there, just like a muse to me, you are a mystery, just like a dream, you are not what you seem, just like a prayer, no choice your voice can take me there..."
As the song ends, those amber eyes again meet the stunning depths of saphire. A light dances in them as Jeff reaches out and swings his John off the stage and into his arms. "How can I compete with that?" he asks, his voice low and seductive. "For once in your life," comes the reply, "don't try." Pressing together they lean in for a deep kiss of longing and desire....
"...life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone...."
fin.