"You look tired my friend."

Jason looked up and greeted the man who had torn him out of his daydreaming. "Hello, rabbi."

The white-beared man smiled and picked up a chair to sit down on.

"How are you doing ?" The rabbi asked.

"Too much work !" Jason said. "Just too much."

"I'm glad to see you're doing so well." Rabbi Loew said.

"If you're concerned about the rent ..." Jason said and looked for his wallet in his pockets.

"Zeit nicht mishuggene ! No, don't worry about that, save your money and pay me when you actually make some real profit !"

"Thanks, but I won't make a profit if I have to start over every project."

The rabbi looked at him and frowned.

"I finished her yesterday, but I just felt so proud of her, I decided I couldn't part with her. I had to start over, make another one, just as pretty, but not so special ... You know what I mean ?"

"It's the one you showed me last time ?"

"Yes, Let me show you again ..." Jason said and walked up to one of the sheet-covered shapes that littered the workshop. Carefully, he pulled it back and revealed a beautiful woman.

"Oy !" The rabbi went.

"This is Catherine ..." Jason said.

The rabbi just remained silent as he looked at the delicate mannequin.

"When I finished her, I knew I ... could never sell her. She's too beautiful !" Jason said, lingering over her beautiful curves.

"This is a work of art !" The rabbi said.

She was posed holding her hands demurely in front of her, legs slightly apart. Her head was slightly askew, looking dreamily into infinity. Her long fiery red hair cascaded over her back, as if Jason had frozen the light of the setting sun itself, while between her arms was a pair of near perfect breasts, harmonized with her shapely hips and behind.

She had an angellic face with pale blue eyes and a gentle smile, blended into a wonderful dreamy expression.

"Here's the replacement." Jason swiveled another mannequin round. It was similar to Catherine, certainly beautiful on her own, but compared with the original, she lacked something indeed.

"She's wonderful too, but I understand why you'd like to keep her." The rabbi said.

"I tried to make her like I remembered her." Jason said.

"Was it somebody you knew ?" He asked.

"Yeah, but she passed away some time ago."

"I'm sorry."

"Well, she hardly knew I existed, but I don't think there's another girl like her in the world."

"Perhaps I should send you a matchmaker, they sometimes perform miracles you know ?" The rabbi suggested with a mischievious glint in his eyes.

"But I'm not Jewish." Jason said with a grin.

"Ach ! Nobody's perfect, except ..." And he turned his eyes towards Catherine and lingered a long look over her.

Jason noticed and laughed.

"And I promise I'll pay you as soon as I can !" Jason said to the leaving Rabbi.

Rabbi Loew walked back to his home across the street and opened the door.

He paused, and save for his breathing and the ticking of an old clock, there wasn't a sound in the house.

Out of the window, he could see Jason going to the supermarket.

"There goes a young man with golden hands ..."

He sat in his chair and took a deep breath.

"He could have made man for you, if you had been too busy !" He said to somebody high above him.

"You know, the last time I saw that kind of look in somebody's eyes, it was me, in a mirror so many years ago ... Ah, Rachel ..."

The old rabbi remembered the gorgeous, lively woman. He remembered her smile, her smell and her long dark hair.

Rabbi Loew took out his glasses and picked up the book he had been reading.

The next day, Rabbi Loew passed the window and he could see the finished Catherine on display. She was fully dressed and in the radiant light of day, he could see her in all her glory.

Jason had seen him and opened the door.

"Oy Vey !" The Rabbi said. "Who is this Michaelangelo I keep hearing about ? His are but crude scarecrows of statues !"

"Please, I'm not that good !" Jason said.

"That's right, you're incredible !"

"I'd like to think SHE is." Jason said looking back at her.

Jason had dressed her in a simple and elegant long white lace dress, almost turning her into an angel.

"Didn't she have her hands folded in front of her ?"

"Yes, but I changed her pose."

"Can you do that ?"

"I didn't make her like the other mannequins, not with seams and removable limbs, but with an articulated skeleton and a plastic skin." Jason said. "Well ... Not really plastic, I mixed several chemicals like silicone and stuff to make her as realistic as possible."

"It's as if any time, she's going to turn her head and smile to us." Loew said.

"That would be something." Jason joked.

And Loew smiled back only seeing a gleam in his eyes, hastily disuised by a rationalizing smile.

The next day, Loew noticed that Jason had given her a new dress and reposed her.

And late at night, he could see Jason in his shop, working on her, combing her hair and adjusting her clothes.

Weeks passed and the orders streamed in for Jason, who had the opportunity to design a whole new line of mannequins inspired on Catherine. But Loew noticed the gleam in Jason's eyes slowly dimmed.

He would spend whole nights posing her as best as he could, subtly altering her make-up and trying to adjust a single lock of hair.

Every day Catherine grew more beautiful, as Jason slowly slipped away.

"Didn't you have orders ?" Loew asked.

"Yes, but It'll take more time to finish it than I thought." Jason said.

"I was meaning to ask you about the rent. You did pay me a few times, but you haven't paid me in months. Not that I complain, but I thought you were earning at least some money ..."

"I'll pay you as soon as I finish this batch." Jason said.

As Loew walked out, he could see letters marked "Final Notice" stamped in red on them.

That night, Loew looked from his window at Jason in the shop. He was talking to Catherine for hours, doing her hair and stood close to her as if waiting for something to happen.

He walked to his desk and began to write several letters.

It was very early morning as Jason left, thin and pale.

A shadow moved behind him and waited for him to clear the corner.

It swiftly opened the door and slipped inside the workshop.

An envelope was left behind on Jason's table and the shadow lingered for a moment by Catherine before vanishing into the night.

That morning Jason returned to his shop and settled down in a chair, looking at the unfinished mannequins.

He didn't dare to look at Catherine, hoping to clear him mind of her and finish his work.

Sighing, he got up and reached for his tools, when he felt the softest of touches.

He turned and looked into a pair of gorgeous pale blue eyes.

She smiled at him and Jason returned it, tears coming to his eyes.

"It's a miracle." He whispered as he tenderly held her.

Dear Jason,

I'm sorry to tell you the news this way, but It's time for me to leave. I've spent a few years in your wonderful city and it's time for me to go.

I've arranged all the paperwork and the workshop's yours, you'll find the deed included in this letter.

I'm not a man of many written words, certainly not in a goodbye letter, but feel I have to tell you something few people have known.

Every day miracles happen. Most are small ones, two people falling in love, somebody making a wonderful dinner with simple ingredients, a beautiful newborn child.

And then there are the big miracles, the ones that make people dream. Impossible things that come true once in a while just to make people feel happy.

You see Jason, if you've been around as long as me, you get to see many wonderful things and I knew when I met you, you were special, in need of a miracle.

If you look it up, you might find stuff about Rabbi Loew, how long ago he did some strange things in Prague. He took a clay figure of a man and made it alive. They called it the Golem, and on it was inscribed the word "EMETH", truth in Hebrew, and that word like many more have real power. Power in the hands of a mage or as I am, a Kabbalist.

It's time for me to move on, and meet old friends again, Merlin, Viviane, Albertus Magus, Hermes, Toth ...

I would also like to thank you for reminding me what true love meant ...

Thank you,

Rabbi Loew
 
 

Jason held Catherine and breathed in her lovely smell, felt her soft hair and gently rubbed her silken skin.

"I love you." She said and hugged him tight while kissing his lips.

Hours passed and Jason woke up in a corner and listened to the breathing of the sleeping Catherine.

As she lay there sleeping, Jason reached for a tool and got up, and began to work on a mannequin, after giving her a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I do love a happy end." A man in a robe waved the picture away from the crystal globe.

"Here's to you, Rabbi !" Merlin said. "Never has there been greater fool and romantic !"

All the mages, sorcerers, witches and enchanters raised their cups and toasted him.