“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.”
