A couple of months ago, I introduced Gerald to the world in a short 100-word tale called Legendary Circles. I feel that tale needs a little padding here and expanding there, so here’s the first part…
“I don’t believe this!” Athena sat down in frustrated contemplation, swiftly using her mouse to scroll onto the next page. “How dare he!”
Aphrodite, who had just removed her toast from the toaster looked up in disbelief. She loved to see people acting out of character. Even her fellow Gods.
“What is it, Ath?” She asked, spreading copious amounts of butter over the toasted bread.
“This mortal” Athena pointed at her laptop monitor, “telling tales about us, as if all we do all day is lounge about doing nothing.”
“But,” Hera had walked into the kitchen, still trying to dry her hair after her hairdryer had exploded minutes before, “he is right up to a point.”
Athena looked back at her monitor. “When you told me to look this ‘Gerald’ fella up, I thought you were joking, Hez. Obviously you weren’t. He makes out that we all gather together and just watch what’s going on.”
Aphrodite took a bite from her toast, hot butter ran over her chin and down her neck. “Mmm…” she started to speak, and used a serviette to wipe her mouth before continuing. “We don’t do that all of the time, but we do do it”
“Yes, I am aware that we do do it, Aph, but we don’t do it all of the time. In fact, we only do do it when we really have nothing else to do, and usually we do have something else to do, so we don’t do it as often as this Gerald makes out that we do…”
Aphrodite learned long ago that it is wise not to question the wisdom of Athena when she was on one. In fact, it was best not to question Athena’s wisdom at any time. She simply said “He’s only writing what he thinks.”
Hera, in a rage, threw her towel onto the marble floor by the basket, which had a load ready to go into the washing machine. “Get me my pomegranate, and I’ll arrange for someone to zap him with a lightning bolt, for his petulance!” She needed to restore some kind of balance – and her hair would not dry.
“Now there’s no need for that yet, Hez,” Aphrodite held her hands up trying to calm Hera down. Having an irate Goddess of wisdom was enough to deal with without a vengeful Hera making matters worse.
“Then what do you suggest we do?” Hera glared across the cool kitchen at Aphrodite, but her glare softened as she noticed the grease stains on the front of Aphrodite’s pure white chiton from the butter.
Aphrodite glanced down and saw the greasy patches across her bosom. “Oh, bother!” She declared. She tried to dab the grease away with another serviette, making matters worse.
Athena started to chuckle.
“I know what we can do.” She smiled, and Aphrodite and Hera walked over to where Athena was sitting. They both looked at the image of a podgy-looking man with a funny haircut on a profile picture on the screen, while Athena was tapping the man’s chin. “We will pay him a little visit, and then bring him here to the Lap. We’ll show this Gerald exactly what we Gods and Goddesses do. We’ll really give him something to write about…”
The Mansionic Perspective 
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