In the Lap of the Gods


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…”

23 responses to “In the Lap of the Gods”

  1. prenin avatar

    Great! 🙂

    Three pissed off goddesses v. one mere mortal! 🙂

    Go for it! 🙂

    God Bless!

    Prenin.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      Thanks, Prenin!
      I have a couple of ideas where this may go… but you know what these characters are like – they tend to take over! What will happen next? I have no idea… even more so with the Goddesses involved!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Sue Dreamwalker avatar

    Seems we are in for a great tale or two.. 🙂

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      I hope that’s the case, Sue!

      Like

  3. Let's CUT the Crap! avatar

    Totally LOVE the notion of past in the present. Wonderful idea. Delicious, (sorry but I MEAN it) story.

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar
  4. Descent–and–Hell on Earth « Me! Me! Me me me! avatar

    […] posts in one today, continuing the Legendary Circles […]

    Like

  5. shreejacob avatar

    Ah! the Beginning of the story!! Oh dear…maybe it isn’t a good idea to start from the back…from the most recent that is..but then again it does have a different sort of feeling …reading a story from the back to front..like you know a secret that the author doesn’t! lol

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      I’ve caught up with you now, Shree… I think!
      The thing with this story, is that it is set outside of time, so any part can be read in any order. Eventually, things will fit into a more chronological flow. That’s my thinking, anyway…

      Like

  6. europasicewolf avatar

    Oh dear…3 goddesses having a hissy fit! Poor Gerald! Wonder what happened to freedom of speech!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      Would you like to take it up with the three of them while they’re in that mood, Icewolf…? I’m just writing down events as they happen… I’m sure they’ll see reason eventually…

      Like

      1. europasicewolf avatar

        I wouldn’t bank on it!!

        Like

        1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

          You may be right…

          Like

          1. europasicewolf avatar

            I usually am…I’m a goddess!!!!! HoooOOOOOOoooooWWWWWWWLLLLLL…LoooooL!!

            Like

            1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

              😯
              *Bows*
              *Lights a candle*
              *Coughs*
              Welcome, oh great Icewolf.
              *Tidies up really quickly*

              Liked by 1 person

              1. europasicewolf avatar

                Good to see you have the right amount of reverence and respect working for you 🙂 After all…you wouldn’t want me to have one of those goddessly hissy fits now would you? 😉

                Like

                1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

                  Heaven forbid! 😉

                  Like

                  1. europasicewolf avatar

                    Yes 😉 That was my thought too!

                    Like

  7. beautifulchaos2 avatar

    whew finally I found my way here to the first part to your story, after reading your newest post of this story i’m loving it and thought i’d read it all the way through. Nikki x

    Like

    1. Tom (Aquatom1968) avatar

      Thanks, Nikki, you’ve prompted me to get a little more organised with these tales that have several parts to them, and to save you, and other visitors, having to trawl through each link in turn to get back to the beginning, I’ve now added a page with all the links in one place. I’m sorry that you had to do that Nikki, but I’m also glad that you did! Thank you for reading!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. beautifulchaos2 avatar

        No no nothing to be sorry about, It really wasn’t any trouble at all, I enjoyed reading all of them, and the links were right in the posts, I think the “whew” was more for just happy I got to the beginning and was able to read it all in one visit, now it will be easy to keep up. But your idea to put a page with links is a good idea too, wish you a great day Tom:) Big hugs, Nikki x

        Like

      2. pendantry avatar

        As one who’s following links back to the beginning from a point mid-story… would you mind providing a link to your ‘page with all the links in one place’? Pretty please?

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Tom avatar

          Firstly, Pendantry, thank you for reading 🙂
          In the menu at the top of the screen (if reading on a computer) or in the menu button thingy if using a mobile device, there’s an option called ‘Storylines’, and here you’ll find the links to each part of this and other stories from the depths of time.
          You’ve made me think about adding a button in the sidebar for it as well, which I’ll do later.

          Liked by 1 person

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