Choices

I nearly took my clothes off one evening inside a car at a dark parking lot.  I found myself  "making out" with somebody  who could easily hypnotize a woman's undies off with his Cobra stare. 

The kiss felt like falling into a bottomless well.  I was increasingly discombobulated.   I recognized that to disrobe  in that particular situation  was to dishonor my higher self. I extricated myself as my hand reached for the handle of the car door.

The faint scent of night-blooming Jasmine wafted from out of nowhere as I stepped out of the car. I latched on to the fragrance like a drowning man thrown a life-line and inhaled deeply,  imagining the sweetness  infusing every cell in my body. 

Later,  I smiled  at the thought that I almost settled for a Coke  when I could instead have Ambrosia.

- Ariel Murphy