Apparently, Hakim thought so too. Though they tried to be quiet in the beginning, I heard him and Aunt Jewel making love. At first, I thought the light knocking was another complaint from the radiators. But soon, I detected short, faint pants that went along with it. The knocking and the panting always stopped as soon as my old, thin mattress began to slightly squeak. But within minutes, it always resumed. I would have never thought anything or anyone could make Jewel purr; she sounded so young. If Hakim made any noise at all, it was too low for me to hear. I wasn’t embarrassed, for them or myself, but only interested in what could make grown folks all of a sudden sound like children. My bedroom had always been directly across from my parents’, who kept even their kissing as discreet as possible before I’m sure they stopped doing even that. Lovemaking was something I had never heard outside of TV. It sounded patient and strange in real life. When I was still close to my father’s family, I used to stay with an older female cousin when both my parents happened to be at work. She had a never-ending cycle of man-friends who would come by while all the adults were away. Though my cousins and I always strained against the bedroom door we were locked behind, we never heard anything but the stereo she blasted. Whenever I had been with Leroy, I was unaware of my own sounds. I often forgot I had ever made any once it was all over.

I imagined them in my bed, in the corner of my room, with its posters of teenaged singers torn from Fresh magazine and my teddy bears piled everywhere. Jewel often walked around half-naked, and the black around her breasts was darker and wider than any other woman I had seen. She was thin, lithe, and always moved with purpose though sometimes it seemed the wind could blow her over. Hakim was overwhelming, not at all boyish like Leroy and Rasul. I wondered how he didn’t crush her, how large men had sex with small women. It was then that I noticed his waist-length tweed coat peeking out from the open coat closet near the front door.