Traces of Cinnamon and Rhodium

This story was originally published in "The Fictioneer's Treasure Trove" on Medium.

**************

Every time love struck… traces of cinnamon and rhodium were present at the scene. Every time love struck for Felicia, anyway.

She remembered when love struck between her and Grant in the coffee shop. Not so odd that there was a small pile of cinnamon on the table… it was a coffee shop. But the silvery-white bits of metal… strange. Felicia took it home to analyze. Rhodium. Why was that there?

The same thing happened years later when love struck between Felicia and Treylon at the dealership. Cinnamon on the hood of the car, rhodium sprinkled behind the front left tire.

And again with Devin. Love struck in the candle store. A mega sale on berry-scented candles. Why was cinnamon such an overpowering scent? Why, again, was there rhodium at the scene?

After three horrible break-ups, Felicia vowed to never fall in love again. It always hurt tremendously. But what was the common thread from every encounter? Using the rhodium she had collected, along with cinnamon, and other materials she pinpointed after countless trial and error experiments, she discovered the common thread. She created herself a pair of glasses… glasses that could see beyond what human eyes could see.

She found him. The common thread. Cupid. Not a baby as everyone had depicted him… but a man. A winged-man with a bow, a quiver full of arrows, and a little satchel filled with, you guessed it, cinnamon and rhodium. Cupid’s formula for lacing his arrows to turn them into “love arrows.”

Felicia would see him from time to time. The scarcely-clothed man, unable to stop dancing and wiggling in an undulating fashion… almost entrancing. He’d pick out certain people, shoot them with his cinnamon-rhodium-arrows… and they’d fall in love. Shortly after they were hit, a small explosion from the arrows sent a pinkish-brown powder into the air… and then it would fall back down… fluttering all around the couple.

Of course, if Felicia took her glasses off, she could see none of this. She couldn’t see Cupid either. But with the glasses on, she saw the silvery-white, sparkling man… constantly dancing, popping his shoulders around, wiggling his legs, and shooting arrows at unsuspecting victims. They’d be in love now… but they’d feel heart-wrenching pain eventually.

One day, Felicia planned to confront Cupid. She brought Rocky, her little Minpin, along with her. If she needed to speak to Cupid near any crowds, she could pass it off as if she’s speaking to Rocky.

Felicia sat outside her favorite coffee shop with Rocky. She pulled her glasses off to wipe them. She smelled cinnamon. She put the glasses back on… and Cupid appeared in front of her… lacing his arrows. Felicia wondered how he did it. The silvery-white sparkles shrouding his body made her assume that he used the rhodium, among other materials, to cloak himself. Her invention must have been breaking through that invisibility cloak.

Cupid stood off to the side of the outdoor seating area, body undulating. Felicia approached, holding Rocky, glasses firmly planted in front of her eyes. Cupid looked to her, confused. He remained silent, but he kept dancing. Worry in his eyes, a smile on his lips.

“Look, you need to stop doing this.” Felicia said quietly, pretending she spoke to Rocky.

“You can see me?” Cupid was astonished.

“Stop making people fall in love… or at least stop doing it to me.”

“But love is wonderful.”

“Why do you do it? What’s in it for you?” Felicia’s voice got too loud. Patrons looked over at the woman at the edge of the outdoor seating area, facing off in a random direction, chastising her small dog.

“Some people fall in love on their own.” Cupid responded quietly. “And some people should… but they won’t… not without a nudge. I like helping. Some people need help.”

“I don’t want help. So, stop.” Felicia grabbed his arrow that was slung on his bow.

She pulled it away, Cupid tugged back. They struggled. Cupid tugged with all his might… and he shot the arrow into his own heart!

His eyes popped open, and Felicia simultaneously felt in her heart what he felt in his. It exploded with fire… good fire. An exciting, burning fire raged on in her heart… it spread across her whole body… until she was five degrees warmer… trembling with anticipation.

Cupid continued to wiggle… and Felicia had never loved seeing a man dance more than she did right at this moment.

“I am in love with you!” She shouted, holding Rocky up.

Cupid’s eyes glistened with happiness. All the eyes of the coffee shop patrons, however, saw a woman standing off to the side, proclaiming her love in embarrassing fashion to her dog.

“I’ve seen this woman around. She’s definitely losing her marbles!” One patron said.

“Well, she finally went completely off the deep end. Someone call the insane asylum!” Another patron said, and then they all laughed.

“I am in love with you too.” Cupid said to Felicia as a pinkish-brown powder fell all around them. “I think I always was, and I always wanted to help you find happiness, but no one else out there was completely right for you.”

The two leaned forward and kissed. At first, the rest of the patrons saw Felicia lean forward to kiss air, but suddenly, an image flickered. An image of a man. A man… flickering into existence. A man on the receiving end of Felicia’s lips… until… he was just there. They could now see Felicia, kissing a scarcely-clothed man.

“That one should be in the crazy house, and the other one should be arrested for indecent exposure!” One patron screamed. “Call the cops!”

With Rocky in Felicia’s arms, she and Cupid sprinted off down the road, away from the coffee shop, and towards the mall.

“Can we get a cinnamon babka to celebrate our love?” Cupid asked.

Felicia laughed.

“Let’s get you a shirt and a pair of pants first.”

**************

If you enjoyed this story and want to read more of my work, then please come check out my website where I post all my latest work, plus you can even subscribe for updates!