✍🏾 There are only two lessons learned after midnight.
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” ~ Yoda
Now that that's cleared up, we can discuss the important things—like how to lose weight while sleeping or how to wake up to a ceiling that refuses to stop spinning slowly while you're having an out of body experience where every second counts as you pray your feet go faster for kneeling things out of you. That was the last time ever for that.
I had been bold that night. I tried the palm wine; then the 33 Export beer, followed by an Italian coffee and a chat with a blur of a fellow at the pool table after taking my winnings home. It was the first time I'd ever played poker for money, actually pennies if I remember right.
We were on the rooftop overlooking something out there. I think it must have been the volcanic sand beach of Kribi or Limbe, black as this morning’s walk in the dark of primordial night, where the raptors wait in trees. It was there where I hummed that Kenny Roger’s song for every hand I held.
"You got to know when to hold 'em . . .
Know when to walk away . . ."
There are only two lessons learned after midnight.
When I stuck the key in the hole and shook it open with a step inside, I felt something squish beneath my feet. They were eating mosquitoes at each door entrance, slurping them down with a quick tongue while hanging from a wall or waiting under there for me.
Some time in the dark, she called. I heard the ringing, rolled over for a light and saw all the many things moving on the night stand—if dust could crawl. Who would sleep again in that?
It is 1762 I think of now when I recall what happens after midnight.
"I talked on love very freely. “Madam,” said I, “I can never think of having a connection with women that I don’t love.” “That, Sir,” said she, “is only having a satisfaction in common with the brutes. But when there is a union of minds, that is indeed estimable. But don’t think Sir, that I am a Platonist. I am not indeed.” (This hint gave me courage.) “To be sure, Madam, when there is such a connection as you mention, it is the finest thing in the world."
Both are true in my case at some point.
James Boswell wrote of his Louisa in London that day—his way of romancing the one who left him wondering if she, too, wanted it as much as he. There are lessons learned after midnight.
If you read a little more of Boswell, you'll see the British world of meretricious tramps and maidenheads bound for matrimony.
There's also another thing you'll find—a dirty little secret from such an 18th century mind. This is the life of James Boswell, the man who fell in love with her and learned a thing or two. 🤫😉
Source: KJV Chapter 5: Verse 12
Source: Yoda
https://www.starwars.com/news/the-starwars-com-10-best-yoda-quotes
Source: Kenny Roger's "The Gambler"
https://www.elyrics.net/read/k/kenny-rogers-lyrics/the-gambler-lyrics.html
https://youtu.be/7hx4gdlfamo
Source: James Boswell's "London Journals (unsuitable for young adults)
http://www.jacklynch.net/Texts/louisa.html
