Chapter Twelve #2
Yiftach tried to regain his cold and distant composure, and he knew very well where he was leading his witness with the next question: “I know this isn’t easy. Really, I know this demands of you great inner strength, but try nonetheless—for the sake of all humanity—to tell us what happened next.”
“Well, while our love was seething in us like hot lava, we suddenly recalled the harsh animosity between our rivaling families.”
“Was this animosity capable of destroying the connection between you and Juliet?”
“Of course, and it’s exactly what happened in the end. Anyone with a brain and a head on his shoulders fully understood that there was not a chance, not even a sliver of hope, that Juliet’s father would agree to her betrothal to a member of the Montague family!”
“In your opinion, was this fact also clear to Love herself?”
“Without a doubt, clearly so. All the residents of Verona knew of the feud between the two families.”
“With all due respect,” Attorney Heart intervened, “that is just the witness’s conjecture, without any basis in reality.”
“The witness is right,” Love complacently confirmed Romeo’s statement.
“Indeed, I knew about this feud.” She stole a glance at a small compact mirror in her purse and, for the umpteenth time, arranged her hair.
The judges exchanged quick side glances as they sat together and, for a brief moment, they resembled a social gathering of iguanas.
“Morons, a bunch of vermin,” Heart muttered to himself.
“Excuse me, did you say something?” Judge Kedem asked, leaning towards him.
“Great job! How diligent everyone is!” he feigned.
“Mmm…” the learned judge smiled.
Yiftach looked straight into Love’s eyes and imagined himself tying her to a torture bed. “You knew full well of the harsh feud and that their relationship was impossible, and yet you caused this young, innocent couple to fall in love and become tangled in this mess.”
“That’s right!” Romeo said with a wrathful look.
“Were it not for her, this wouldn’t have happened!
I remember that I saw Juliet lying dead before me.
Oh… if only I had known that the potion she took was only to make her appear dead for several hours…
if only I had understood that she did it to avoid marrying Paris, the man that her father insisted that she wed…
I was certain there was no life left in her.
My heart was broken, there was no point in living, my dreams had vanished in one fell swoop, there was no hope left… ”
“Okay, okay, I think we understand. What happened after that?” Yiftach asked.
“I couldn’t continue living without Juliet. I swallowed some poison, thus hoping to be reunited with her in the next world.”
“Just look at what you caused…” Yiftach hurled at Love, but she remained indifferent and silent.
“Although every literate person is familiar with the end of your unique love story, still I would like to hear it directly from you,” Yiftach turned to Romeo and Juliet.
The audience in the courtroom, fascinated by their account, nodded in agreement.
“After Romeo drank the poison,” Juliet continued, “the potion that I had taken began to wear off. When I awoke, I saw my beloved lying dead beside me.” Her eyes misted over.
“I remember lifting the vial of poison to my lips, but it was empty. Romeo had drunk it all to make certain that he would die. I kissed him, hoping there would be remnants of the poison on his lips, but that too didn’t bring the desired result.
Left with no other choice, I took my lover’s dagger and stabbed myself in the chest.”
“And thus your love brought upon you both certain death,” Yiftach summed up.
“Not only did we pay with our lives,” Romeo added, “Mercutio, my close friend, died in my arms after being fatally wounded in a duel with Tybalt Capulet, Juliet’s cousin, and I avenged his death by killing Tybalt.”
“And as if that weren’t enough,” Juliet completed the body count, “Paris also paid with his life. He thought Romeo had come to desecrate my tomb, as he was sure I was dead. He challenged Romeo and he too was killed in the duel.”
“Which brings us to five deaths, all because of one love,” Yiftach concluded. “Thank you. I have no more questions.”
“Cross-examination!” Sabat announced, and added: “Attorney Heart, I remind you that after the stage of examination in chief, the witness is questioned by the litigator of the opposition. During cross-examination, you are permitted to present the witness with leading questions, meaning questions to which the answer is either ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”
Attorney Heart stood up and approached the young couple. He had a roguish look in his eyes.
“Hello there,” he said, rubbing his hands with pleasure. Romeo and Juliet remained tense and didn’t respond.
“It is impolite not to return my greeting… isn’t it?” Heart said, glancing at Sabat who gave him a mocking look, as if to say that he wasn’t going along with this one-man show.
“Never mind… many years ago, the bitter feud between the Montagues and Capulets split the city of Verona in two.” Heart continued. “It turned what was once a peaceful town into a divided, dangerous and tribal city. Am I right?” Heart wanted confirmation.
“Yes.” Romeo replied.
“And this feud enflamed hatred, led to evil trickery and planted wicked thoughts in the minds of Verona’s citizens, did it not?”
“What are you getting at?” Romeo asked.
“And all the attempts to mend this rift failed miserably, didn’t they?” Heart continued, ignoring him.
“Yes,” Juliet answered, “it was a rift that could never be mended.”
“However, one fine day,” Heart continued determinedly, “Friar Lawrence suddenly came up with a fantastic idea.”
“Who the hell is Lawrence?” Yiftach asked Melody quietly.
“He’s the priest who secretly married the couple. Where were you during Lit Class?”
Worry lines creased his brow. He realized he had missed an important detail.
He recalled that the defense, unlike the prosecution, is not limited to a preliminary list of witnesses who are required to appear in court in order to testify and can bring any evidence it deems relevant or any witness as it wishes.
Now it was clear to Yiftach that Friar Lawrence would appear as a witness for the defense.
He should have seen this coming and planned for it.
But he didn’t foresee it and, consequently, didn’t prepare for it.
“Friar Lawrence agreed to marry you when he understood something essential that no one else before him had realized—your love contained the power to put an end to the long and bitter feud between the two families. Here’s a question: Juliet, if you had awakened a moment before Romeo drank the poison, and Romeo, if you had seen your beloved Juliet alive, what would have happened then? ”
“It would have been the most beautiful moment in our lives, you can be sure of that,” Romeo replied firmly, squinting slightly.
“Believe me, my young friend—I am sure of it. At this point, just as a reminder, you were already married, were you not?” Heart asked.
“Yes,” Juliet confirmed, “we married secretly in Friar Lawrence’s chambers a short while earlier.”
“In that case, let me understand.” Heart knew very well where his questions were leading to.
“Let’s assume that you, Juliet, wake up and manage to stop Romeo from his suicidal act.
You are both alive. You are in love. You are married.
Let’s assume that these are the facts, okay?
Now, as Attorney Posner likes to ask, ‘What happens then?’”
“Oh, c’mon. He is asking the witnesses to make assumptions and develop hypotheses,” Yiftach turned to the judges, “he can’t be allowed to do that.”
“And I think that he can; it sounds important to me,” Sabat answered, seeking to remind everyone that it was he who set the rules. Sabat turned his eyes towards the witnesses.
“If I had been able to stop it…” Juliet said in a broken voice, “…at some point our families would have discovered that Friar Lawrence had married us.”
“And then?” Heart asked cunningly.
“It definitely wouldn’t have passed quietly, you can bet on that.
My father would have gone out of his mind with fury.
He would have continued to threaten to cut me off from my inheritance.
Most likely, for a while, my family would have broken all ties with me.
But with time—and especially if grandchildren were added to the family—my parents, especially my mother, would have renewed contact with me.
Of course, it would have been a long, slow and gradual process but, in the end, they would have accepted Romeo, they would have discovered what a noble man he was and would have fallen in love with him too.
That’s what I believe.” They looked at each other. Romeo seemed deeply moved by her words.
“How about you? What would have happened in your family?” Heart asked Romeo.
“More or less the same, I think. But without the ‘long, slow, gradual process.’ My family would have discovered Juliet’s amazing qualities and would have fallen in love with her quickly.”
“In that case,” Heart concluded the findings of his experiment, “the love that burnt in your hearts contained the power to succeed where everything before it had failed—to mend the rift between the Montague and Capulet families and put back on track the lives of Verona’s populace, enabling a good life for both factions.
One can only regret that this scenario did not actually come to pass, and what did occur was not planned by my client, nor did she wish for it to happen.
However, let us not make light of the immense potential for reconciliation that dwelled in the love that blossomed between you both. ”
Heart was about to return to his seat when he suddenly remembered.
He turned around to the two lovers and asked: “And even if the claims of the complainant are correct—which, as stated, they are not, but let’s assume for a moment that they are—and my client knew from the start that your love story was meant to end tragically, would you have relinquished your love for each other, if you were able to turn back the hands of time? ”
Romeo and Juliet looked at him and didn’t say a word.
“Thank you. I have no more questions.”
“Re-examination?” Sabat turned to Yiftach and reminded him: “After the cross-examination, the litigant who summoned the witness is entitled to redirect. However, in this questioning, the witness can be presented with questions that stem from the cross-examination only.” Yiftach answered in the negative.
“In that case, that is all for today. Make certain you arrive on time for the next court session!” Sabat said, striking with his gavel to conclude the session.
The line at the Court House cafeteria moved very slowly. Yiftach and Melody sat down at one of the tables, soiled with some spilled soup. They were nursing cups of hot, frothy cappuccino.
“You know, the defense might summon Friar Lawrence to testify,” Melody said.
“Perhaps. It’s a good example of the punches that the prosecution sometimes takes.
The defense knows our list of witnesses in advance.
We don’t know who they will summon as witnesses.
It’s a slight tap on the wing, nothing serious.
We’ll survive it. This priest for sure will describe how deep Romeo’s love for Juliet was.
Heart will lead him on to speak of the potential that lay there to mend the rift between the rival families, and all that nonsense. ”
“Yiftach,” Melody cupped her hand over his with infinite gentleness, “I certainly don’t have your professional experience, but I too understand that we missed something important here.
We should have foreseen this testimony. It is certainly not just a slight tap on the wing and it is absolutely not nonsense.
How do you plan to respond to the claim that will focus on Love’s potential to mend and heal?
” she squinted at him and maintained a serious expression.
“That potential won’t pay your grocery bills. Love’s potential ended with the terrible death of innocent people.” He sipped his coffee.
“You didn’t add sugar?” she wondered.
He shook his head no. “There are times when life is bitter. There’s no point in trying to conceal it.”
“And are you ready for our next witness?”
“What do I look like to you?” he challenged her and she smiled.
“Like a guided missile,” she replied with a wink.