Cupid: 2059

by

Elizabeth Hensley 8-)

Felix came huffing and puffing up from the basement into the bar. He had an old, worn cardboard box. He set it down on the counter.

Cupid was now his Manager and Heir. Lita had finally made it as an Actress starring in a popular sit-com in California, much to everyone's relief!

Cupid's mortal body had aged well. He was as strong and tall and straight as ever. His gentle, wise playful face had nary a wrinkle. But his hair had turned to snow! It made him look like the Greek god he'd always been.

Felix lovingly opened the old box. "Cupid come see what I found in the basement storage compartment amongst your old things you didn't take with you after the fire. It's your old pool beads. I am surprised you didn't take them with you for sentimental reasons when you married Claire."

Cupid was a little horrified. "Felix you shouldn't be climbing those stairs! If you need something from down there let your Grandkid fetch it! That's a major reason why Mortals have Grandkids!" But Cupid came over from behind the bar and looked in the box. He pulled the string of pool beads out. He looked at them and shuttered, "I stared at this thing above my bed for over 9 years, Boss! They were becoming like nightmares to me! At first because they took so long for beads to slide over. It dawned on me really quickly I wasn't going back to Olympus any time soon! I was trapped in the Mortal realm for what was going to be a Mortal life time! And then as Claire picked and picked and picked and PICKED at my personal beliefs, they became a nightmare because I wasn't sure WHY they were sliding over. She claimed I was doing it myself in a fugue state, then confabulating the memories that I had seen them being pushed over by my family. After a while I sort of suspected maybe she was right though I didn't dare admit it! I never could get anyone up to my room in time to see them slide, remember? I kept trying!"

Felix nodded, "Oh yes! Those were the days! 'My poor, poor, crazy Barkeep and Roommate! At least he was harmless and cooperating with his Therapist!' Then Felix started all out laughing. He doubled over at the silliness of it that he had ever thought 'Trevor' crazy. Soon he had to sit down. At 71 his spirit was still willing but his flesh had considerably weakened.

Trevor nodded, ruefully, " And video cameras would always jam even when they were tied into motion sensors. I must have tried over a dozen. I spent most of my salary on that kind of equipment for at least six months! Or they just wouldn't move until I gave up or fell asleep! Then, as they got into the nineties I started having other dreads. What if I went nowhere when they reached one hundred? What if I DID! I was starting to come to my senses. Sanity was returning. I had realized YOU were my Friends and Family, not those ephemerals up on Mount Olympus!"

Felix said, "But Trevor it turned out you were right! You ARE Cupid!"

Cupid nodded, "Yes. As I said. As sanity returned and I realized who my True Family was I wanted desperately to stay with them! I was like any Emigrant whose visa was about to expire. I needed to marry to stay in the country. Fortunately I really was and am in love with Claire Bear! And a Mortal Miracle occurred! The future goddess of reason and science and common sense and the Queen of checklists accepted my proposal even though she was still positive I was just a clever, wise Lunatic! I call myself Love Incarnate. But that is L*O*V*E!!"

Felix nodded, "Look how they no longer separate. Your family must have made sure they stick together forever like those couples you united."

Cupid shook his head. "No Felix. The heat from the fire did that. It melted the paint. When it dried again it acted like glue." He pulled hard on them and some of them separated. "See? Now the paint is pulled off but they do come apart."

Felix said, "So you don't want to take them with you?"

Cupid balled them up and tossed them at the trash can behind the bar with his usual accuracy. "I never want to see them again!"

Felix hobbled behind the bar and fished them out of the trash can. "Well then I'm keeping them. There is talk of a remake of that movie about Claire and you know that her best selling book about you and her has been revised and is in its third reprinting, and still selling just as strong as ever! If that happens maybe they'll want to use the original beads in the set or these may be very valuable to Collectors someday.

Cupid nodded, "I know about the proposed remake already. I've already been called by the proposed Producer!" He laughed. "They no more believe I'm really Cupid than they'd believe I'm Zeus but they want me to be a consultant on the scenes that take place on Olympus and there is going to be a "thought track" for whoever plays me. The audience will hear the "Lunatic's" thoughts as a voice over about being psychoanalyzed by Claire and all the other wonderful nonsense you Mortals put me through as whoever plays my character acts out the scenes! They want me to write those voice overs!"

Felix laughed and fingered the beads. "Anyway I'm sentimental about them. Even if you had been nothing but a Lunatic you are an extraordinary friend and fellow to know 'crazy Trevor!' You enriched my life! Made it an adventure! I wasn't just the Owner of a bar. It was a front for the god of love or for a Genius Lunatic's wild and sacred and whimsical fantasy. I amused myself by trying to imagine what life and the Universe and everything looked like through your eyes and it was a fantastic thought experience! Colors became more vivid! It became easier to tolerate other People's Human frailties, and my own. Because it seems even the gods have faults and cope just by muddling through. We were all tired, confused Strangers on the bus riding towards the Omega Point together. And life isn't finite. It goes on and forever for every single one of us all the way around Fate's Wide Wheel thanks to Heaven and Earth, Faith and Reason, Love and Science, God and Mary, Cupid and Psyche dancing together forever and producing a Love Child who saves us all!"

Cupid grinned. His eyes had misted over but he was trying to disguise it as simply a twinkle. "You know the only thing I can say say to all that heavy stuff, Boss?"

Felix grinned back, What, 'Crazy Trevor?" His eyes had misted over too.

"Burp!'

Felix grinned, "That about says it all alright!"