Chapter Fifteen
“And Elishah said to him, take a bow and arrows;
and he took for himself a bow and arrows.”
Yiftach was arranging his black tie when Max entered the room, holding a tumbler with clear arak in it. “Doctor Levanon told you, even when Mother was still alive, that you must cut down on your alcohol consumption,” he said to his father as he studied his reflection in the mirror.
“Doctor Levanon died two years ago, and I’m still here,” Max replied dismissively and immediately continued. “How was your visit at Melody’s last night? You came home late.”
“It was okay. You know… I just went over there to pick up a book.”
“Of course, and are you planning to meet with her again? I mean, outside of work.”
“I don’t know. Why does it matter to you so much?”
“Because I think that you are now ready to begin dating again.”
Yiftach wasn’t at all in the mood to discuss this again, as in only two hours’ time he would have to face the great Sabat and begin questioning his primary witness in the initial direct examination. “I’ll think about it seriously, I promise, Dad.”
“I believe you, it’s just that I’m a little worried about you. You’re alone too much.”
“I’m not alone.”
“Yes you are.”
“I don’t want to argue about it now.”
“I don’t either. Anyway, it won’t lead anywhere.” Max smiled gently at his son and asked, “What’s she like?”
“Melody? She’s smart… beautiful… intriguing.”
“Is she available?”
“I think so.”
“I mean emotionally, not officially. You know… you are too.”
“I’m not sure about that, Dad.”
“My dear son,” Max gazed at Yiftach with a look that pierced his soul, “enough time has passed since your breakup with Nicole… I know that you loved her as you never loved anyone else, but it’s okay to let go, to ‘free’ her and continue on with your life, not just in a practical sense, but emotionally as well. You will do it, won’t you?”
“I know you’re right, Dad, but it isn’t that simple.”
“Nothing that requires real effort is ever simple.”
Yiftach glanced at his watch. “I have to go.”
“Okay,” his father said, “have a good day.” A moment before his son rushed out, he said, “Yiftach, why don’t we invite Melody over for dinner? What do you say?”
“I promise you I’ll give it serious consideration,” his son answered and left.
The critical session in which the last witness for the prosecution would be presented was about to begin.
“Was the book of any help to you?” Melody whispered to Yiftach with bad timing, precisely when the events of the previous night were running wildly through his mind.
Suddenly, Yiftach heard a harsh voice coming from Sabat’s throat like a guided missile headed towards a target that stood no chance.
“Are you ready to continue with the prosecution’s case?
And please, be prepared with your concluding arguments,” the Chief Justice said, “we need to begin with the case of the defense.”
“Not really,” Yiftach said to Melody, then replied to the Chief Justice, “Yes, we are definitely ready.” He started out fine but, from there, things began to go downhill. “You were a little late and that gave us time to rethink several other pertinent points,” he continued.
Through his glasses, Sabat shot an eyeful of contempt and hostility.
“My young friend,” he thundered, “let me explain something to you. I am never late. In fact, even when I come early, I arrive on time!” The Chief Justice’s words were meant to clarify for the insolent attorney that every living creature must fall in line with his rules.
Sabat’s harsh words seeped into Yiftach’s brain and he suddenly felt a sharp pain throbbing in his temples. “Of course, Your Honor… I didn’t think otherwise.” He felt that he was choking and lost his train of thought. The courtroom turned dim and Yiftach felt a wave of heat wash over him.
He whispered to Melody, “I don’t feel good about this examination, I’m not at all sure that I’m prepared.
” And how could he be prepared? The entire night before, he had hardly been able to concentrate as recurring thoughts of kissing her kept surfacing and, when he finally did go to bed, his sleep was disturbed by the strange dream he had.
“Let me do it, I will question him!” she answered assuredly.
Yiftach looked at her. “Are you sure?” he asked and, without saying a word, she stood up and approached the judges. Although, at that moment, the change was barely perceptible, she surely wasn’t the same Melody he knew. She stood erect and was more self-confident and determined.
“The prosecution calls to the witness stand Mr. Cupid,” she announced and noticed that Yiftach had regained some of his color.
“Nothing but a spoiled brat,” Love murmured to herself.
“What was that, Miss?” Kedem asked.
“I said that he’s a spoiled brat!” Love repeated her words.
“Thank you,” Kedem said, clearly not comprehending her response.
A small boy stepped into the courtroom. Due to his short stature, the audience didn’t notice him at first. The chubby cherub-like child had pale skin, golden hair, blue eyes, and rosy cheeks that were ridiculously flushed.
His lips were red and full. Stemming from his back two large wings with white feathers extended upwards and outwards.
In one hand he held a large, dark brown bow and, in the other, a quiver of arrows.
He was barefoot and walked scruffily, almost limping, to the front of the courtroom.
As Cupid stepped up and stood behind the witness stand that practically concealed him, he grumbled, “Very funny…”
“Bring him a stool!” Sabat ordered with satisfaction and disdain.
This witness certainly won’t overshadow me and what happened with the king will not be repeated, he thought to himself.
A pair of muscular, very rough-looking security guards brought the petite lad a metal ladder.
Cupid climbed the ladder, which was a bit wet, causing him to slip off it and fall onto his back with a bang.
If it weren’t for his wings that softened the fall, he would surely have suffered serious bodily harm.
Sounds of panic, mixed mostly with laughter, rose from the audience but ended abruptly when Sabat raised his hand and smiled a wicked grin.
Cupid climbed the ladder once more, this time more cautiously, and set himself comfortably behind the stand. “I’m fed up with all this,” he mumbled.
“Excuse me?!” Melody reacted immediately, before Sabat could throw this obnoxious young boy out of the courtroom, but not before finding him in contempt of court.
Such a ruling would surely be a fatal blow to the line of attack.
“Calm down! You are not out on the street and this isn’t a chat with your friends.
I suggest you show proper respect in this courtroom.
” Melody’s authoritative demeanor caused Cupid embarrassment and he returned a vacant look in her direction.
“And now, would you please tell us how are you acquainted with the defendant? What kind of relationship do you have with her?”
“Employee-master...” the witness responded, purposely and defiantly short with words.
“Employee-employer,” Melody corrected him.
“Believe me, Sweetie, what I do for her is slavery.”
“What do you mean?” The young boy’s response took a direction that she liked.
“I mean that I work like a slave without any compensation.”
“Slow down, my young friend. Let’s take a step back and begin the story in an orderly fashion. Tell us, please, what does your typical workday with the defendant look like?”
“Generally speaking, I start work at around eight o’clock.”
“In the morning?”
“In the evening.”
“You start to work at eight o’clock in the evening?”
“But, of course, see? I don’t have a life. I toil night after night like a fiend. My employer always tells me that the demand for love is greater at night. That’s why she forces me to work those inhuman hours.”
“That seems okay as, after all, you aren’t a human…” Attorney Heart remarked from his seat.
“Yes, but on the other hand—I’m not a dog either. Anyway, generally speaking, until nine p.m. we hold a briefing.”
That’s an important point, Melody thought to herself. “What does that briefing entail? What exactly is said there?”
“It depends. Generally speaking, it’s always the same talk before I start my shift. My employer tells me who the targets are for that night, where they can be found, at what time and all that shit.”
“In other words, she is the one who plans everything and knows in advance who will fall in love with whom, where and when?”
“But, of course, see?”
“Yes, and where does your common sense enter into all this?”
“Generally speaking—it doesn’t,” he shrugged his shoulders, “she decides and I shoot. She is the commander and I’m the soldier. She’s the boss and I’m her subordinate. Get it?”
“Yes, but nonetheless, let’s assume that you reach the predetermined location.”
“What location?”
“Let’s say you arrive at a public park at eleven o’clock at night.”
“When?”
“It’s just an example, Cupid, you understand?”
“Oh… an example… yeah, okay, so let’s assume.”
“And when you reach the place, that public park…”
“Perhaps it can be a pub? I’m really dying for a mojito…”
“Okay, so it’s a pub, and when you get to the pub that the defendant sent you to, you begin to think that the romantic link she asked you to initiate between two targets might lead to a disaster.”
“What’s that?”
“I mean, for example, perhaps it’s two people who are clearly not suited for one another, or they live at two different ends of the world, or one of them is already involved in a romantic relationship with someone else…”
“So?”
“So, under these circumstances, are you permitted to not fulfill the mission given to you by the defendant? Are you given any leeway in deciding whether or not to cause them to fall in love?”
“Haha… for real? No such thing, and I’m not even allowed to ask questions. I follow a list of predetermined targets that she gives me and that’s it.”
“Predetermined by her?” Melody pointed to Love.
“Of course, and also, she has her own ugly methods of making sure that everything will happen exactly according to her plan.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, my base pay is disgustingly low, you see? Lower than the minimum wage. In addition, I earn bonuses. I get something for every successful hit. Generally speaking, I work according to goals, like in sales, get it?”
“And if you don’t hit the target for a month, what then?”
“Then it will end up being a very hard month… no cigarettes, no alcohol… get it?”
“In other words, there are months in which the defendant knowingly violates labor laws and pays you less than the legal minimum wage?”
“But of course, you…”
“Understand. Absolutely. In fact, what isn’t clear here?
” Melody was superb, and her astuteness instructed her that it was time for an interim summary.
“The defendant’s devoted, loyal, and closest worker, her confidante, one who is familiar with her and her work methods better than anyone else, has told us about impossible loves that the defendant creates between two humans.
These are the same affairs that turn into unrequited love that sear the heart and take lives.
If this is her nature, it is no wonder that she consistently and crudely ignores labor and protective laws and exploits her employees.
Thank you. I have no further questions.”
Heart—who had already won the status of a god in regard to cross-examinations—stood up with a scheming look in his eyes, ready to interrogate Cupid, and with one goal in mind: to discredit everything that he had said.
“Hi there, my young friend. I am not sure that during the initial questioning it was brought up, so could you please tell us where you first met the defendant?”
What does it matter? Yiftach thought to himself. Where is the sly Heart going with this?
“She gathered me up from the gutter,” Cupid replied. Yiftach and Melody exchanged surprised looks and both realized that something important had just been introduced and had slipped beneath their radar.
“Please… tell us about it,” Heart asked calmly, knowing full well what he was after.
“My parents never wanted me, you see? I was born with these damn wings and they thought I was some kind of a human monster. They didn’t know where to hide their shame.
When I was five weeks old, my mother, so I was told, wrapped me in a red bed sheet and placed me in a wicker basket.
My father drove all night to Athens in order to place me at the door of a soup kitchen in the Greek capital. ”
“And…” Heart whispered.
“And, just at that moment, Mother stepped out of the soup kitchen and saw me. She took me with her and we’ve been together ever since.”
“I don’t understand… you just said that your father drove all night to Athens, which clearly indicated that your mother didn’t join him on this trip. Who are you referring to exactly when you say ‘Mother?’”
Cupid pointed to Love, who seemed excited and, for a change, had dropped her cloak of complacency and cynicism.
“In other words, you naughty child, the defendant sitting over there is no other than your mother, not your employer, as you stated earlier in a mindless moment. When she came upon you one wintry night, you were a sobbing, helpless newborn. Her heart filled with pity for you. She took you in and raised you like a son. Have you no shame to come here today and tell us these ridiculous stories about an employer-employee relationship?”
Cupid, whose forehead was covered with beads of sweat from the heated exchange, was about to say something, but Heart didn’t give him a chance.
“The relationship between you and her is not that of employer-employee, but rather—mother and son—a spoiled and very ungrateful son. A baby thrown to the gutter just because of his appearance and a woman with a huge heart who saved him from certain death.”
Cupid looked defeated. “And, furthermore…” Heart added with fury, “considering the fact that the relationship between the two of you is that of mother and son, and an insolent son at that, the money she gives you is not considered payment for your work, but is actually an allowance. And as such, this pocket money is not in any way renumeration for services rendered, hence any laws regarding wages, minimum or otherwise, do not apply and my client has not broken any law. Thank you. I have no further questions.”