Digital art by @xpilar

1

-- Nina, can I finish the potato pie? - asked Allen.

-- Yes, Alyoshenka, eat please, enjoy, – answered Nina Tolstoy, a tall long-haired mulatto girl.

She had a Russian name for everybody.

She liked calling people this way because she was Russian herself, a descendant of nobles who escaped a revolution a century ago.

She handed her boyfriend a tote bag without taking her eyes off tiny vintage binoculars.

-- What a sunset, Alyoshenka! The cirrus clouds are just amazing!

Allen sullenly nodded as he was rustling with plastic bags in search of the pie.

2

Indeed, it was a nice sunset.

But sunsets were regularly nice at the central beach of Copa-Capa City. They always attracted crowds, local men and women and visitors from neighbouring principalities, and many of them chose to feast at balconies of luxurious seafront restaurants in all these old white colonial buildings. Whereas others preferred gathering around ancient ruins on the top of Jesus Christ Hill (and where you could notice Nina and Allen that evening).

Meanwhile, many townspeople just relaxed on the seafront parapet listening to the waves, cries of seagulls, drinking red wine from glasses and right from bottles, and lovers were kissing, and sports guys were wrestling for fun and gunshots were rare at the sunset time in Copa-Capa City.

3

The most beautiful people lived there. An impressive mix of Africans, Russians, and Gypsies merged into the single freedom-loving race at a tropical bay of the Atlantic Ocean where you can hardly breathe due to perpetual heat and ultimate humidity, and where malaria spares neither children nor the elderly.

You couldn't say that Allen was a handsome man, however. On the contrary, many were surprised why such an attractive woman as Nina, a descendant of Russian princes and a promising p*rn star, hung out with this – as some say – jerk. A short whining Jewish weirdo with thick glasses on a large nose. Someone told that he had been a celebrity in New York but, just by looking at this pitiful eccentric, you would know it was an obvious lie.

4

-- Crunchy-punchy! Crunchy-punchy! - voices were approaching from behind the hill, men having trays on their heads were coming.

It was an old Copa-Capian tradition: when twilights began their short reign, all sunset viewers started to feast on spicy fried chicken, God-blessed Copa-Capian recipe, involving chicken and avocado and Brazilian chilli powder as well as cinnamon and a bit of cane sugar, all stuffed with the best Copa-Capian mushrooms, and they called it the crunchy-punchy, nobody knew why.

-- But the best part is just coming! - commented Allen spitting chicken crumbs from his mouth (Nina couldn't stop laughing). - The Night of the Dancing Bones!

5

To that moment, all the crowd was sitting on the grass and leaning against the ruins in the half-darkness, having mouthfuls of the crunchy-punchy, scattering chicken bones on the ground around them, and the fat was flowing down their fingers and hands.

Several Gypsies in traditional Copa-Capian attires lit fire torches, meanwhile. The musicians started beating the drums. The show was beginning.

-- Look, Alyoshenka, what they have on their belts. I love these Wakanda gravity guns! - Nina told Allen, touching his hand and leaning towards him.

She smelled strawberry and plumeria but what took his attention the most was a tiny chicken bone lost in her thick hair. The bone was vibrating to the beat of the drums...

The bone was dancing.

6

I swear you have never seen such a ballet! Best Swan Lake in Bolshoi Theatre just can't compare with the Copa-Capian dance of the chicken bones, staged, as many say, by the spirit of famous Pyotr Tchaikovsky with the help of the pure African magic!

Many were laughing there, many were crying, some were rolling on the grass, puking, or running naked down the hill to swim in the ocean.

Many died that night and many were reborn.

THE END

This is my #steemexclusive story written for the competition within WORLD OF XPILAR Community about making a story out of the digital image created by @xpilar. You can see the image at the top of the post.

P.S. If you are still here and interested how my characters could look like, check the links below:

• Allen "Alyoshenka"
• Nina Tolstoy

:))

Thank you for reading! :)