“Anything but sex,” he winked at her.
“Stop, don’t be a pervert.”
“You know, there’s a chance that after this trial ends, we will both die,” he told her in a dreamy, somewhat lost tone, fully aware that he was talking nonsense. A blank look crossed his face.
“We won’t die,” she said, rebuffing him adamantly.
“Perhaps not physically.”
“Why are you suddenly pessimistic?”
“I’m actually an optimistic guy, because I tend to see all the pessimistic scenarios in advance.”
“You lost me there,” she signaled to him to stop talking so astutely and to speak simply.
“What I mean is that my ability to foresee pessimistic scenariosand prepare for them fills me with optimism. It is simple dialectics.”
“Hmmm… and are they also eclectic, your dialectics?”
“What?”
“Stop saying such elaborate statements, they’re too vague and intellectual. You don’t have to impress anybody now. It’s just me here, with you. If you want our budding relationship to succeed, you must separate the boss inside you from the partner inside you, and discard the distancing walls of your lofty, condescending language. Talk to me in plain, easy-to-understand language. It will be far more effective. Anyway, you don’t really mean that you want to die.”
He thought about what she had said. “I’m not afraid of dying.”
“That’s because you are too arrogant to understand its consequences,” she continued to throw angry words at him.
“Let’s assume…” he focused his eyes on an invisible spot in space.
“Think about it,” she said as if formulating a mystical statement, “if you die—your body will be eaten by lions and hyenas…”
“If I die—I’ll be eaten by lions and hyenas and, if I stay alive after this trial—I’ll be eaten by humans and the media. Does it really matter whose hunger I will be satiating?” he fell silent for a moment, as if giving Melody time to digest his words.
“Stop being morbid.”
“How exactly do I do that, Melody? If I survive till the end of this trial, two finales await me: If I win—all the supporters of Love, all those bleeding hearts, will tear the flesh off my bones. And if I lose—I will immediately be thrown out from the State Attorney’s Office and become the world’s laughingstock. No legal firm will want to hire me. I won’t be able to show my face anywhere in the world.”
She was disturbed that he was talking about himself as a solocharacter. Why is he leaving me on the sidelines? she thought to herself. “We’re in this together, remember?” she said.
“Look down.”
She looked at the floor, confused. “I don’t understand…” she admitted.
“It’s beginning to cave in. And what awaits us at the very bottom is not just death—it is annihilation. Sometimes I wonder, why did we need this? Who are we fighting for? For our painful past? For our future, to give it a better chance?”
“Perhaps for the next generation?”
“Which at the moment exists only in your imagination.”
“Tell me,” she changed the subject, “what did your father ask you earlier, when you hesitated for a moment and then answered with a ‘yes?’”
“If you make me happy.”
She smiled. “Okay, enough of all this highfalutin language. You don’t have to talk all the time,” she stated and came close to him and kissed his neck. “Who wants to talk anyway on such a sunny vacation day?” She closed the window blinds. She then glanced at him with a mischievous look in her eyes, feeling how her body was burning with desire for him. She kissed his lips and her kiss revived him. A weak smile spread across his face. He felt that if he wasn’t yet out of his mind, it was only thanks to Melody. Only because of her he didn’t remain a minority of one. He gazed at her face. So much beauty—where did it come from? he thought. He then got angry with himself when he suddenly felt that he was betraying Nicole. He couldn’t rid himself of her, not even when daydreaming. Melody’s eyes studied him with patience.
After some moments, they removed their clothes and stood naked, looking at one another in the dimness, illuminated only by an old oil lamp, in whose light dreams come true. Their hands groped their way in the dark, learning every curve, every detail of the other’s body. Her hands stroked his muscular chest andhe kissed her along the length of her neck, imbibing her with lust, and his touch was cruel and pleasurable. No tender feelings were at play, just pure lust and plain passion. The windows were tightly shut and outside no one could hear the groans of pleasure that filled Melody Geva’s room in Tel Aviv.
Chapter Seventeen
