Cupid's Table

"Oh"

"Are you not aware that keeping your own council, that mayhap others shall perceive your intelligence?"

"Then I would not speak."

"Precisely."

"How shall you entice number one to a restaurant?"

"Subtlety and misdirection."

"Huh?"

"Alas! An astute question, short and to the point. Your desire to know does not equal must know, so therefore you will not. In this, I must keep my own council, for you speak much. You speak when you wake and before you break the fast the whole of Rome knows, hence number one would bolt. Others shall entice number one to the restaurant."

"What shall I do?"

"Truly? Your task is vital to keep other mortals from number one. An arrow must not strike the wrong mortal yet again. Also, you shall accompany your mother to functions in my stead. You shall have no need to do anything, but be yourself."

"Pray tell, how shall I do that?"

"Even though you're the god of luck, you're an . . ."

Sors interrupted holding up both hands in surrender. "I know, I know, truly I'm an idiot."

"Your task is be your lucky self, and however it turns out shall be excellent. Your lovely disasters always do, provided you arrive on time."

"Yea verily, I puzzle at the oddities of the mishaps. I never plan for it to turn out like it does. It is craziness, things occur by happenstance. Fires, earthquakes, avalanches, plane crashes, car crashes, food fights in restaurants, police car chases, lightning strikes, volcanos, floods, domestic quarrels, and power outages. It is idiocy."

Cupid shook his head in disbelief, which quickly turned to laughter. He pointed to Sors, and tried to talk between laughs.

"Your understanding has descended quickly from idiocy into cluelessness. Mayhap you are a blonde and dye your hair red? If so, it works not!"

Sors pulled a lock of his hair to look at it. "What? Nay! What has blond hair to do with me?"

Cupid laughed even harder. "Your descent is complete and irretrievably at the bottom of the abyss of cluelessness."

"That's cool. OH! Nay, it's cold!"

"Nay, I believe the American colloquial phrase states it is a filament of your refrigeration."

"Huh?"

"Yet another question short and to the point. Very astute! Thank you, for being you, I enjoy our talks while you explore figments of your imagination, and I digress yet again.

"Lord Mercury shall soon messenger the restaurant's location and the functions to your mother to assure you are in attendance. The chosen city is San Diego, and you must be present on the 11^th. I care not if you cause Vesuvius to bury Pompeii again, you shall not be late for this!"

"Why San Diego? It has never made the list of romantic cities."

"Yea verily, for that very reason mother chose San Diego. For my mission to succeed it must be covert and appear happenstance. All preceding attempts were too complex, or too contrived. Number one won't be expectant, so his guard shall not be employed rendering his heart vulnerable, which greatly reduces the effects of the poisons in his heart. Our mission shall be a simple precision strike to his heart at a time when his guard is absent to maximize the effects of the arrows on the poisons. Number one's heart must be nudged open to see Arielle for who she truly is.

"Arielle and number one are unaware they shall be in San Diego at the same time. Number one shall travel to San Diego to attend to business, and Arielle shall be on holiday visiting her most favored friend."

"Does number one have a name?"

"Yea verily, but number one shall remain anonymous to you, because you do not . . ."

Sors interrupted Cupid again. "Yea verily, I understand. I have no need to know."

"Truly, you are akin to that young boy, what's-his-name, the boy who never grows up."

"Peter Pan?"

"Truly, it frightens me that you know of him, but your similarities make your knowledge of him weirdly logical."

"Is the briefing concluded? Mother has tasked me to complete errands for . . . "

Cupid abruptly stood and pointed at Sors. "You may complete your errands, but stay out of San Diego until the appointed day. Yea verily, I shall beseech your mother to detain you from appearing in California until then. I do not want the San Andreas fault to sink the half of California into the ocean like you caused Atlantis. That was ugly!"

In an afterthought Cupid added, "Oh! And quench your desire to attend the debut of the new F1 Ferrari racecars on the 11^th. They must be victorious, not crash. Your appearance in San Diego must not be late that day."

"We have an accord, Lord Cupid! Mother's errands shall keep me in Rome until the appointed day. Moreover, mother and father have enjoined me to accompany them to vineyards across the whole of Italia, kind of like a pub crawl."

"Oy vay, a drunken Peter Pan!

Chapter Two

Arsenius entered Cupid's chamber and bowed his head. "My Lord, Lord Mercury has returned from San Diego with news."

"Thank you Arsenius, hasten Lord Mercury to my chambers straightaway, and fetch the finest wine for my guest."

Arsenius bowed his head again and smiled. "A full vessel, my Lord?

"Yes, and sealed."

Arsenius bowed his head once more. "As you wish my Lord. The very best. I shall make haste."

The elderly servant smiled as he approached Mercury who was jesting with the retired praetorian guards in the antechamber.

"My Lord, your presence is eagerly awaited. We must make haste."

Mercury laid his hand on Arsenius shoulder before he entered Cupid's armory chamber.

"You serve Lord Cupid well Arsenius. The whole of the pantheon would do well to emulate your kindness."

Arsenius bowed his head to Mercury. "You honor me Lord Mercury." Arsenius entered the chamber and announced, "My Lord, Lord Mercury."

Cupid turned to the chamber doorway with an eager smile.

"My friend, what news have you for me?"

"Number one, Mr. Barrett Mason secured reservations at the Westin San Diego hotel for five days from the 12th through the 16th where he shall entertain clients in the restaurant and bar. Actual business shall be conducted in private chambers to discuss investment opportunities in China, Russia, Australia, and Canada. He specializes in all precious metals and all seventeen rare earth elements. He has reserved a rental car through Avis, a Chevrolet Impala.

"Miss Arielle Wells' schedule overlaps Mr. Barrett Mason's from the 7th through the 16th. She shall be a guest in her friend's home in Mission Bay. The home is quite affluent for a single young maiden. Miss Wells is an individual investor in many businesses, but primarily in Pharmacia, medical technologies, and health care. She has been an astute investor from age eleven and her investment portfolio is worth upwards of 180 million U.S. dollars. Truly the whole of her family are astute investors as her grandfather's investments is worth several billion U.S. dollars."

Arsenius re-entered the chamber and bowed his head to Cupid and Mercury. "My Lord, wine as you requested."

"Thank you, Arsenius. Please unseal the vessel and serve my guest then you may take your leave and rest. We have much to discuss."

"Yes my Lord." Arsenius poured Mercury a full goblet of wine and placed it in his hand with a bow of his head then took his leave.

Mercury sipped his wine before he set his goblet beside him. "This is the finest wine in the whole of Italia."

"Nay, my friend. I discovered that wine after a successful mission in France two years past. Regardless of the importance of my missions, I now journey to France every year, only for the wine."

"As would I, for a wine of such excellence."

"My friend, what is your perception of Barrett Mason? How does he conduct himself?"

"Nay, it is not my perception, but observation and divination. As you know, Barrett Mason is a loner, and confines himself to his work. He allows himself no indulgences or vices. He spends only when he must, and has exiled himself of matters of the heart and is very lonely. But my divination reveals that under optimus circumstances his heart would return from exile. He is like a young boy who wishes to be included, but his psyche resists for his heart and mind are gravely poisoned. His exile keeps him on the outside looking in, but he longs for what he once had. He deems himself unworthy to participate in matters of the heart, and day by day his heart fails him. He awaits the sands of time of his life to end."

"You give me very good news my friend. I desire to redeem myself of my mistake that I could not right on my own. You have given me the seed of a plan that shall have number one willingly share a table to dine with the young maiden. They shall speak of investments and much more. You're divination has mayhap prevented a catastrophe in humanity. The Fates have foreseen a coming catastrophe, and mayhap my plan fails, the consequences of my mistake shall allow it come to pass."

"Indeed, the whole of the pantheon watches with great trepidation. If I fail my friend, we will cease to be gods. Without humanity, we shall devolve to petty, narcissistic, and jealous eternal beings for we cannot create mortals. The pantheon can procreate life, male and female with a mortal and among the pantheon. And gods of the pantheon can grow life in fruits, grain, and cattle, but no Roman god can create life from nothing. We must always start with a seed of some kind. Yea verily, a seed of love resides in every tip of my arrows.

"We have always been, and always shall be, but we are not omniscient, nor are we omnipresent, or all-powerful. We are only gods of singular disciplines, so without humanity we are nothing, and would descend into war with each other. Hence, without humanity we would have no purpose and cease to be gods."

Mercury's stomach churned at the news, and Cupid's finest wine threatened to return sour as vinegar. He stared at Cupid in disbelief for moments on end then stared into empty space failing to fathom such dire consequences. He also would have no purpose. He would cease to usher mortals to the underworld, or convey messages.

"Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Minerva, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, Ceres, and Vesta cannot prevent this?"

"My friend, the whole of the pantheon is trying."

"What destruction have the Fates foreseen?"

Cupid grimaced before he continued. "Humanity is very close to discovering the last three rare earth elements thought to be hidden for all of eternity."

Mercury went white. The last three elements were hidden by Jupiter himself.

"The forbidden elements." Said Mercury in dread.

"Truly. You are aware of the hydrogen isotope tritium, are you not?"

"Yea verily, it is the injected ingredient that increases a nuclear bomb's power to a hydrogen bomb."

"You are also aware of the Tsar bomb, created by the Russians?"

Lord Mercury flashed back in his memory of August 9^th 1945 as he looked off into space once more.

"The most powerful hydrogen bomb ever tested." Lord Mercury half whispered.

Lord Mercury looked to Cupid in trepidation. "Thank Jupiter it was tested but once and never used in war. I grew very weary of my task ushering countless mortals to the underworld from Nagasaki and Hiroshima."

Cupid agreed. "Yea verily, thank Jupiter. Russia created the Tsar bomb because of unfounded fears. It is 1,570 times more powerful than the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombs combined. If the remaining three rare earth elements combine in the correct order with the hydrogen isotope tritium in a multi-stage nuclear bomb, it's power cannot be calculated or quantified. If such a bomb was unleashed, the nuclear chain-reaction does not stay confined to the atoms within the bomb; it feeds on all other matter in a continuous chain-reaction. A subterranean detonation would destroy the whole of the earth from within, like a supernova destroys a star, and possibly cause Earth's sun to supernova."

"You can prevent this cataclysm?"

Cupid nodded once with a smile "With love."

"My friend, how is that possible?"

"Mr. Barrett Mason and Miss Arielle Wells seek to fulfill their lonely existence with fleeting success, wealth, leisure activities, and travel, but it is only emptiness for them. They desire to love and to be loved. If they remain apart, their emptiness shall soon set into motion a chain of events in their fruitless quest for fulfillment in their investments. It would quickly lead them to invest in mining ventures that enables world exploration for additional sources of rare earth elements. Those mining ventures would discover the last three elements.

"My mission is to nudge them from their present path to love for each other. A small nudge is all that is required for them to find each other and divert their path. In love, the fulfillment and joy they would give each other would supplant their emptiness found in material possessions, wealth, and success.

"At a divergence in the road of their future, their love shall cause their priorities to turn from vain and empty pursuits. Joy and fulfillment shall supplant their unhappiness and forever turn their hearts desire to love and family. I paraphrase the words of Huey Lewis: With a little help from above, change a heart to a little white dove, it might save your life. That's the power of love.

"Do you now understand the reason petty infighting and jealousies within the pantheon have ceased? Every god of the pantheon has contributed in some way to ensure our success, even you. The burden is now upon my shoulders to ensure a flawless mission. I shall no longer be thought the cute cartoon cherub the pantheon and humanity thinks upon once a year on February 14th. That is not an inflation of my ego, but the importance of love. For far too long, gods and humanity alike have pursued power, wealth, and social status, which are all fleeting and empty. The wisest mortal who ever lived called fruitless empty pursuits vanity of vanities. Only love follows a mortal into eternity.

"Your news my friend proves most valuable, and this spirit of cooperation within the pantheon must continue. The whole of the pantheon must cease toying with humanity like puppets on a string. I have long said my arrows do not supersede or eliminate free will; they eliminate prejudices, fears, doubts, reservations, and all personality flaws that inhibits love.

"To ensure success, the whole of the pantheon is in accord. To ensure Miss Arielle Wells and Mr. Barrett Mason do not revert all gods of the Roman pantheon have vowed to never interfere in their lives. I have enjoined Lord Sors, and his task is most important. Truly without interference, Barrett and Arielle shall prove me correct that love is enough. Love may yet finally take its rightful place as the sole purpose for the existence of all humanity."

"Cupid, does Sors realize the importance of his task?"

"No, and it shall remain so. His melodrama brings a smile to my lips, but he is too naïve and impulsive, and without thought. Catastrophe and calamity follows him with his every thought and gesture. He would not be himself if he understood his importance and the true plan. I wish him to be his usual blundering, clueless, and idiotic self. Success of my mission can only be achieved with the lovely disasters he is naturally inclined to produce, but tempered by his mother's providence. His catastrophes and disasters shall prevent mortals from interfering with the mission. For Barrett and Arielle to have a future together, their lives must take an alternate path. The Fates have foreseen their future path is vital to saving the whole of humanity, but a simple plan is all that is needed to avert the approaching cataclysm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A cadre of archers milled around the Island Prime parking lot awaiting instructions from Cupid, who was receiving last minute news from Mercury. With a nod to Mercury, Cupid turned and addressed the archers.

"This night we undertake the first of three rehearsals to ensure we perform our primary mission perfectly three days hence. We have but a single chance on the 14th, and if we fail . . . well . . . we must not fail. If by happenstance difficulties arise we must adapt quickly to a new ploy. To ensure success, we shall not rely solely on the golden arrows.

"First, you are the most skilled archers in the whole of Rome. Each of you was provided a full quiver of golden arrows dipped in mother's tincture of myrtle that doubles the effectiveness of the golden arrows.

"Second, sprays of mother's enchanted red roses are employed. Their scent increases the arrow's effectiveness even more. Last, four of Rome's most skilled harpists shall play the most beguiling subliminal siren songs by Ligeia of Calabria. While the songs don't increase the effectiveness of the arrows, they shall entice number one to stop and listen. The songs decrease his emotional and logical resistance and allow the words spoken from the young maiden's heart to penetrate his heart deeply.

"Mortals cannot see or hear you, but they can interfere. I anticipate a diversion from Sors shall prevent all interference from mortals and the restaurant to be empty. I must impress upon you that no arrow may strike anyone but the intended target. Mayhap that happenstance comes to pass, we fail. Mayhap a mortal approaches the targets, I shall command cease and stand fast to avert failure. Inside the restaurant, I have chosen a table for two at the center window and all targets shall be seated there."

"Archers, you shall form a half circle around the table and aim for the heart, and you shall only release on my command. At my command, the archer on the very right shall release then the next archer releases and the sequence shall continue to the archer on the very left. We must not haste, we must release arrows in sequence, not a volley of all thirty arrows at once. Once the archer on the very left releases, the rightmost archer shall begin the sequence anew.

"A sequential release shall maintain and prolong the effects of the arrows and the myrtle, to counter the poisons and fears. Thus our window of opportunity shall remain open. Archers, you must remain focused on the target only, and the sequential release shall only cease on my command. Questions?"

"What manner of diversion shall be created?"

"Excellent question. I know not, so prepare for any manner of happenstance from Lord Sors. You must stay your focus on the target at all times. I must impress, you must not release an arrow if a mortal interferes. To ensure further success, Sors mother, Fortuna, goddess of fortune shall remain with him to keep him ignorant of the plan to ensure an appropriate diversion without distracting the targets. Archers, this night's targets have come."

Cupid gestured to a couple exiting a car. "The young Celtic maiden with long raven hair and blue eyes is Denise and the young mortal helping her from the car is Tyler. They call each other Ty and Deni. A week past, Tyler was moved up to number eighty-two on my scroll. He was chosen for the first rehearsal, for their love shall continue through generations of mortals. Tyler mayhap offer only token resistance, but stay your focus as if he were number one. Archers, follow them to their table and form your half circle and await my command. Listen to what they say, that you may learn from this."

As the couple approached the restaurant Deni took Tyler's hand and affectionately squeezed. "Ty, are you sure about this sweetie? This a four-star restaurant and very expensive."

"Yeah, I know. A brand new intern at work won a $200 Visa gift card in a drawing at our company picnic last week. I won a voucher for a full day excursion on the Napa Valley wine train. The intern has family in Italy who is into wine making and his mother asked if I would trade, so I did.