The Angel Sleeps~ A Serial Short Story Part #2

     Alice ran her hand along the brass rail that lined the patrons’ side of the bar. The brass rail was polished nightly. She looked at her self and Miguel in the reflection. Two tiny, slightly warped people within a panorama of tiny, slightly warped bar paraphernalia. Miguel sat next to her, one hand grasping his drink and the other holding a freshly lit cigarette. He watched the television.
     Alice took her straw and twirled it through the soda. “So, honey. I’m glad that you’re here.” She smiled at him, but he kept his eyes on the television. “I missed you, you know.”
     He turned to her. “I missed you, too.”
     Alice leaned in close to Miguel, breathing in his ear. She whispered, “I bought new underwear just for you.” She fondled his ear lobe with her tongue, and pulled herself back over.
Miguel forced a smile. She sensed his disconnection. He seemed separate from the room they were in. Alice knew Miguel well. He was in it right now. That meant that he was working through something in his mind. 
     Alice finished her soda. Miguel suggested that they go back to the room. They exited the lounge; the notes of a piano and bass duet slowly diminished as they receded into the corridor of the hotel.

     Alice swiped the electronic key card, which opened the auburn door leading into room 217. Alice placed her things on the glass table just inside the door, and headed for the bath. Miguel went directly to the bed, and removed his sandals. He noticed a Gideon bible on the nightstand beside the alarm clock and the table lamp. It looked brand new, as they always did. He leafed through briefly and murmured a verse under his breath. 
     He put his feet up on the bed, wrapped his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes. He lay there for ten minutes, until Alice returned in crimson lace semi-translucent underwear set. She climbed on top of him, straddling him. She began to rub his chest beneath his clean white crew shirt. She observed him. Short cropped black hair, bushy eyebrows; wide jawbone, quaint mustache, puffy cheeks; dark brown eyes, almost black. Coffee skin.