Chapter Twenty-Four #2
“Ladies and gentlemen, we will now move on to the verdict.” He placed his reading glasses on the bridge of his sharp nose and Yiftach’s heart beat wildly, almost painfully, as if it were about to burst from his chest. He, of course, knew that the verdict is pronounced following the legal arguments of the defense and of the plaintiff.
In most court systems, when the verdict is given, only two possibilities exist: guilty or not guilty.
Sentencing is the next and final stage in which the defendant’s punishment is determined, if found guilty.
The verdict together with the sentencing form the judgment.
This is it, then, Yiftach thought to himself, the most important and fascinating journey of my life is now about to end.
It was a journey that demanded of him more hours of preparing and research than any of his previous cases, and he had given his all to reach the desired outcome.
“As we know,” Sabat began, “Section 1 of the Legal Legitimacy and Guardianship Law-1962 states that ‘every person has legitimate rights and obligations from the moment of his birth to his death.’ The defendant in our court in this case, however, is a human emotion personified. Simply put—she is not a person. That being the case, she has no legal obligations regarding rights or jurisprudence. Hence, any obligations that the due process of law sets upon human beings does not apply to her.” Absolute silence filled the hall.
“Therefore, we see fit to erase the indictment and to clear her of any criminal wrongdoing.”
Uneasy murmurs rose from the audience and filled the courtroom.
Yiftach and Melody’s jaws dropped as they looked at the judges.
They both turned pale. Yiftach couldn’t think clearly and felt that he was being lowered into a bottomless pit.
His face darkened. “And because of this ratio decidendi, you are ready to let her get away without punishment?” he asked, trying to keep his voice under control.
“And if you knew of this academic loophole to begin with, and if you understood from the start that she could not be convicted, why didn’t you address this point in limine?
Why did you put us through such hardship for all this time? ”
Judge Sabat smiled fully for the first time, but then quickly turned serious and said. “And give up on everything we witnessed here? I don’t think so.”
Love threw a mischievous glance at Cupid and pointed her chin towards Yiftach.
Cupid held his bow, pulled out an arrow from the quiver strapped on his back, and shot the arrow at Yiftach.
The arrow, with its amazing capacity to be visible only to Love and Cupid, soared through the courtroom, hit Yiftach’s heart and then continued on directly to Melody’s heart.
Yiftach and Melody looked at one another.
Love and Cupid stood up, smiling with satisfaction, and began to leave the courtroom. “Right on target! Good work, my little friend,” Love said to Cupid.
“Thank you. By the way, we really do have to talk about my terms of employment…”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean a raise. I also want you to start paying out a monthly sum towards my pension.”
“Pension?”
“I’m not that young, you know… I don’t want to reach retirement age unprepared.”
“You’re still a boy!”
They entered the elevator and the silvery doors closed loudly behind them.
Melody went to the ladies’ room and, when she came out, she saw that Yiftach was waiting for her. They were there alone. He quietly stood at her side and she saw in his eyes that something was weighing on him heavily.
“We lost,” she said when she realized he wasn’t going to say anything.
“This is going to be short and without cynicism,” he said, ignoring her words.
Melody stayed silent and waited for him to continue.
“Throughout the months that we have known each other, I was wrong. I was wrong in that I tried to ignore the obvious, and I hope you will forgive me for that. I tried to protect myself from another blow after Nicole had ‘knocked me down.’ I was stupid to try to ignore my feelings. Melody, now that my father has died, you are the most important thing in my life. I know I’m not perfect.
I am selfish, I am arrogant and impulsive.
In short—I am insufferable. I had no right to attack you as I did when I found your letter to Eitan and got angry that you hadn’t kicked him out of your life, when I never really freed myself from Nicole either.
If you still don’t know, now you will—from the moment you first entered my office, you haven’t stopped wandering through my thoughts.
I was wrong because I tried to cover up these thoughts and feelings with a blanket of the past. Whenever I see the sun, I think of you.
Whenever my phone rings, I hope it is you that is calling.
Every morning, as I organize myself for another day’s work, I am excited just at the thought that I will soon see you. I want to be with you.”
She wanted to say something. “One moment, let me…” he continued as his breathing quickened.
“The night my father died, I slept in my car near the beach. I had a strange dream. I dreamt that again I was returning home from New York. I entered the dark apartment, passed through the living room and kitchen, and saw a pale light coming from the bedroom. When I opened the bedroom door, I saw Nicole in bed with another woman whom I didn’t know.
She wanted to say something to me, but I spoke first. My dear Melody…
in my dream, I told her that I have met you, that I love you and that her explanations don’t really interest me anymore.
She didn’t say a thing, and I—I shut the door behind me and left the apartment.
Sabat said that we don’t know the answer to the question ‘What is love?’ Perhaps.
But now I do know that love is that feeling that gives meaning to life and that, without it, life loses all significance.
I know that as opposed to what you just said a moment ago, we did not lose.
When I think about the overall move we made, the fact that we, together, initiated a legal case against Love due to the heartbreak that we experienced, I’ve reached the conclusion that we did the right thing but for the wrong reasons.
Like my father said the night before he died, I agree that one shouldn’t be motivated by a desire for revenge, but this trial—the first of its kind ever in human history—was important and, no less important, it brought us closer. ”
She gave him a big smile, moved by his direct and honest words.
“Yiftach, you know,” she said, “it was hard enough to hear how angry you were at me and leaving me to cope with you cutting me off. Having to go through all that a second time will be unbearable. I love you enough to trust that it won’t happen again.
It’s true that there were days, not so long ago, that I mourned Eitan as if he were dead.
It accompanied me everywhere. But today, after what happened, or more exactly—what didn’t happen under the shade of the third cypress tree, I know that I can finally get up from this imagined shiva; I can put the mourning behind me.
Lately, you too are with me wherever I go—when I’m at the gym, when I look at the clouds and when I’m talking to myself.
But that is not enough. I want you totally, completely, here and now. ”
She came up close to him and kissed him as Sabat observed them from the far end of the hallway, convinced that today he had made the right decision.