“When did you first fall in love with her?
sitting at a keyboard and computer monitor
the man asking the questions wore glasses
and a lab coat with assistants quietly on each side
the man being asked was sitting in a chair
cuffed at his wrists and ankles so tightly
that his hands and feet were essentially numb
he also had electrodes on his temples with wires
running to the computer where his questioner sat
and the two nearly identical assistants said nothing
“I walked out of my room.
I saw her sitting down the hall.”
“No.
Not when you first saw her.
When did you first fall in love?”
“When I walked out of my room.
I saw her sitting down the hall.”
“You had not spoken a word to her?’
“I hadn’t even seen her face.”
“What was it?
We just want the truth.
We just need the truth.”
the man being asked knew all about this searching for the truth
he knew that they could determine if he were telling the truth
and he knew that this particular truth sounded ridiculous
“It was the curve—it was the curve of the top of her foot.
Across her ankle and then up her shin.
She was wearing simple slip-ons and no socks.
And black leggings to just below her knees.”
“It was the curve?”
the man asking the questions looked at his monitor typing
the assistants stared vacantly across the room as if alone
until the tapping stopped and both looked at the questioner
the questioner nodded so slightly it may not have even been a nod
but the assistants stood immediately and loosened the cuffs
setting free the man being asked who felt suddenly lighter than air
“OK, then.
All we wanted was the truth.”
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