Straight Through The Heart
Part 9
By SJ
"Mother," I wail, "you promised not to interfere." My mother Aphrodite/Venus whatever you want to call her has caught the second arrow in her hand and is walking down the aisle towards me. I glance in our young couple's direction and find that them still cooing at each other. Whew, I think.
"Eros." Oh, oh--this is the name she uses when she is angry. "It is time for you to grow up and stop playing these childish games. You know that your true rewards for this work will be endless bounty, stop your complaining and straighten up, pull your shoulders back, lift up that chin."
"When will you ever learn, my son that when
you strike others with arrows you hold their very destiny
in your little quiver? You alone can make these mortals
fall irresistibly and passionately in love with one
another. And you know it is much more than that my son,
it is downright Jungian, in fact. When hit by a love
arrow, the person is unconsciously drawn to the love
interest almost as if they cannot live without their new
love. Jung called it Enantiodromia, a cause and effect
relationship where a one sided position flips over into
the opposite; the realm of instincts and emotions that
one has kept down and discounted rises up and overturns
all reason. The status quo also overturns and new life
and vitality enter the lover's constricted heart. Of
course, the mortals call this fate. But we my son, we
know different."
"Mom, you really bug me when you talk about Jung or
is it Freud? Jung was Swiss, right and Freud an Austrian?
Oh who cares, they separated into different schools of
thought in 1914. Oh bother, you are confusing me again
mother, and if you perplex me, can you imagine what you
are doing to the readers?"
"Son, listen to me, the fact is that you are a prime
force in the creation of love. It is time for you to take
your rightful place. You belong beside me, working with
me instead of constantly battling against me in this
passive aggressive manner. Truthfully, I need to share in
the blame for your behavior these last few thousand
years. It is because you are fatherless isn't it my son?
Would it help if I told you that I have finally narrowed
it down to two of the gods, Hermes or Ares?"
"You are the young virile god, Eros. The Romans called you Amor, remember? Oh do not get me started on those god copying, name changing Romans. In early folklore, you were the prime force to be reckoned with in all things having to do with love. However, during these last thousand years, you have become a joke, a fool bandied about once a year on February 14. These mortals now see you as a baby man in diapers with a bow and a quiver of arrows. Rise up son and reclaim your power as the proud protector and enforcer of passion and love and for Zeus's sake put some clothes on!"
"You remember your playful prank on Apollo;
you shot him with the golden love arrow and Daphne his
amour with the leaden love-repelling arrow? You did all
of this in playfulness because Apollo made fun of you
holding while you were holding your little quiver full of
arrows. Where is that fun love god and prankster?"
"Do not let concerns over this clone business bother
you; he is not really your clone after all. Just joshing
you, get it? Oh, your mother is so funny. I cannot
believe you fell for that old clone gag. Do you think
that I would stoop to something like cloning to devise a
story line? No, he is actually your brother, Himeros, the
god of desire. He is now in Limboland. You know that
place, don't you? It is the place where show characters
often go and never return. He will oversee efforts to
make these characters more desirable on the series and
with his help; we can hope that they will become so
desirable that the show will bring them back as regulars.
Your mother already has her eyes on one of these young
mortal men who I'd like to mold into an image. His name
is Ray Santos and Himeros starts work on him first. This
person is a real Adonis if you know what I mean."
"Your mother apologizes my son. I should never have
tricked or abused you like this. It is just that it still
bothers me when the other gods refer to your mortal wife
as the second Aphrodite. Psyche is a mere woman after all
and not a beautiful goddess such as me. I am the most
beautiful and beloved goddess in the entire realm, as you
well know. I am ruler over all that is divine. You should
also know, son that I still have quite a bit of
resentment over teaching her to overcome those problems
she had in life. That test of four tasks was grueling to
come up with and even harder to monitor. You know this
situation reminds moi of the situation that poor Carmen
Santos must face each day with her ungrateful
daughter-in-law, Michelle Bauer."
"Fret no longer about competition from your brother. He is not your adversary. You both have different jobs to do now. He will continue to do my bidding and will not fight with you as long as I am your mother and am the most beautiful and beloved creature in the heavens."
"Now, son, what was I saying? Do you have a
mirror handy? How does your mother look? No need to
answer, beautiful and lovely as always, right? Now Eros,
my very own little Cupid, let us encourage the pilot to
land this plane before the year 2000 and get on with our
real work. You must ensure that Danny and Michelle begin
to show their audience the passionate love that only you
and I are sure of at this time. Mommy is going to check
on that Santos man."
Soon, the Fasten Seat Belts sign comes on in the airline
cabin. The pilot announces that the flight will land in
San Cristobel shortly. Danny and Michelle stare into one
another's eyes. Danny says, "Michelle what happened
back there for a while? It was as if we lost our
connection. Then you more than made up for any problems
when you enticed me back to the lavatory for 15 minutes
of fun. Just think we'll leave as members of the mile
high club."
"Danny, you are so cornball sometimes," sighs
Michelle.
Danny laughs at her obvious joke and says, "I do
have one question for you Mrs. Santos, how do we keep all
of these people away from the Casa Santos annex once we
land?"
Michelle smiles, "Don't worry Danny, I have a
plan."
The plane lands and the passengers disembark. Cupid
follows Danny and Michelle. The last passenger exits the
plane and the reader notes that he has the second,
positive arrow in his hand. The man nods to the flight
attendant giving her a sinister wink. This does not bode
well for our couple. Who has picked up the second arrow
and who wishes our couple ill will?