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kashiwrites[NOTE: this text is from my unfinished NaNo of 2004, and does not count toward the word total for NaNo 2009]
(Chapter 1, part 1)
Her son smiled agreement, and shaped his hand into the shape of a gun, it’s index finger-barrel pointing at Alex. “Bang,” he said softly.
Instantly, a wave of emotion rushed through Alex, sweeping her with it, as her heart began to race furiously. Look at that chef – just look at him! Had there ever been anyone so handsome in the world? So tall! So statuesque! The lines of wisdom on his face! Where had he been all her life?? Never mind, it didn’t matter – he was here now. She had found him at last. The man she had dreamed of, the one she’d been waiting for all her life.
She couldn’t wait an instant longer. She pushed past Vijay and flung herself at the chef, throwing her arms around his neck. She grabbed his head and kissed him madly, passionately. It was better, far better, than she had ever dreamed!
“Alex!” yelled Vijay. “What do you think you’re doing??”
“Whoa. Whoa, there!” said the chef. He peeled her off his face and held her at arm’s length. For some reason he was looking past her, at Aphrodite. “Again?” he growled.
“Sorry,” said the beautiful young man, and waved his hand in front of Alex’s face. She staggered back against the wall, shaking her head dizzily.
“It was necessary to prove a point,” said Aphrodite to her employee. “And yes – you may have tomorrow off, and the next day if you like, as compensation.”
“I’ll take both,” growled the chef. “I wish you’d quit doing this.” And he vanished back into the kitchen.
Alex gaped at the blond young man, all trace of her passion of a moment ago utterly gone now. He smiled apologetically. “I make it strong so it gets the point across as quickly as possible,” he said.
“Please don’t tell me your name is Cupid!” she gasped, still reeling from his little experiment.
“No it isn’t,” he said. “That’s the Roman name. My real name is – “
“Oh no!” she groaned.
“ – Eros.”
Aphrodite said, “I trust you believe me now? I do speak with some authority on matters of the heart.”
“Parlor tricks,” Alex said a little desperately. “Temporary hypnosis, maybe. For one thing,” she added, to the young man (his name couldn’t really be Eros, surely!), “aren’t you supposed to use a bow?”
“When I want to, sure,” he said. “But we’re trying to be inconspicuous, so I don’t use it very often these days. It’s just a prop, really. So I don’t actually use it.”
“But I do!” boomed a voice, coming from behind Aphrodite, toward the main seating area of the restaurant.
As one they turned toward the voice, Alex, Vijay, Aphrodite, and Eros. Alex stared incredulously at the bizarre apparition that blocked their view of the restaurant, but Vijay gasped.
“It can’t be!” he cried.
It was hard to decide what to be shocked about first. There was his blue skin, of course. And the fact that there was a lot of it to see, since he wore some bloomer-type pants to his knees, and only an open vest on top. Or one could be shocked at the vast amount of jewellery he wore: gold medallions, arm bands, rings, ear rings, jewels stuck into his mane of thick black hair, something like a tiara on his head, you name it, he was covered in it. (Funny how it didn’t jingle, though; it should have made such a din that one would have heard him coming a mile away.) Then there was his bow. Though one tip rested on the floor, the other end of it rose at least a foot above his head. And it seemed to be made – surely not? – of flowers.
The apparition was definitely male, but he had rounded cheeks, heavily made up black eyes, and red lips so full they were more feminine than masculine. And for a fleeting, shocking instant, Alex could have sworn that he had about six arms instead of two. Another trick of the light, it had to be, like Aphrodite’s glow.
Vijay was almost transported. “Is it – is truly you?” he gasped.
The apparition smiled gently at him. “Hello, Vijay. We haven’t met yet but yes, it is me. Kama.”
Vijay looked like he could stare at this Kama-person forever. Alex tugged on her friend’s arm. “Kama who?” she said.
Vijay tore his gaze away and looked at her. “Kama,” he said. “He’s the Hindu – he’s our – the god of love.”
“I should have known,” Aphrodite said in disgust, pursing her lips.
“Cool!” said Eros. “I’ve always wanted to meet him.”
“This is completely, utterly insane!” said Alex. “There is no such thing as a love god!”
The three supposed love gods stared at her for a moment.
“I did what I could, mother,” murmured Eros. “She still doesn’t believe us.”
“Oh, she believes us, alright,” said Aphrodite. “She just doesn’t want to admit it. She’s too rational.”
“I am not!” Alex cried. “No, wait, that’s not what I mean.”
The blue-skinned apparition turned his attention back to the Greek goddess. “I understand,” he said, “that you’ve often interfered where you don’t belong. I must warn you that this one is mine,” he pointed to Vijay. “You may do as you wish with your own, but do not toy with the emotions of this young man.”
“I already told him he’s not mine, so I can’t do anything for him,” she said defensively. She was almost pouting.
“I heard,” said Kama. “I’m just not certain I believe you. We used to hear a lot of tales in the old days.”
“Well, that was the old days,” said Aphrodite. “We don’t have as much scope any more. It’s different for you – you’ve still got official jobs. We have to be a lot more circumspect and inconspicuous.”
Briefly, Kama smiled. On him, the enigmatic smile looked deeper, more mysterious, and perhaps more dangerous than it had on Aphrodite’s face. “Lady,” he said. “I do not believe you could be inconspicuous no matter how you tried. Your beauty dazzles even when you veil it.”
Alex expected her to simper, but Aphrodite accepted the compliment with grace. “Thank you,” she said.
“Your followers were fools to forget you,” Kama added.
“They may have forgotten, but it doesn’t mean I don’t influence them anyway. It’s what I’m supposed to do.”
“True,” said Kama. “There would be no proper world without love. But I do repeat,” his gaze hardened momentarily, “that there are limits to what I will allow when you interfere with my own people. Remember that.”
Aphrodite sighed and almost rolled her eyes. The Hindu god turned to go.
“Kama!” cried Vijay. “Will I see you again?”
Again the slight smile. “Perhaps,” Kama said. “Surely everyone sees love at least once in their lives.”
“I mean – that is – in person, I mean,” Vijay stammered. He was still staring in what Alex could only call adoration. He, whom she had thought to be as realist as she prided herself on being.
For the first time, Kama seemed hesitant. “You may,” he said at last. “It has been a strict rule in recent centuries that very few may be allowed to see us with the naked eye. But Aphrodite, and others, have begun to walk visibly among people again, and I am not sure what that will mean for the future.” He chided the goddess again, “You may have made several grave errors here, Lady. I hope we do not all regret this.”
Now he turned from them and strode back through the tables and out through the patio. Disconcertingly, nobody seemed to notice him as he went past. A far cry from the attention Aphrodite had received, even though his appearance, strictly speaking, was far more garish and outlandish than hers. Every head should have been turning as they had done for her, but it was as though he wasn’t even there.
For the first time, truly, Alex began to wonder if these people were really who they said they were.
“Let’s get out of here, Vijay,” she muttered. “I’m not sure I can take much more of this.”
Aphrodite by now had stepped out of her way, but she was smiling that irritating smile again. “Good-bye, Alexandra,” said the goddess softly. “We will meet again.”
“Oh joy,” said Alex, and walked out of the restaurant. She didn’t look back, either at Aphrodite and her son, or to see if Vijay had followed her.
To her relief, he immediately appeared at her side. “That was wonderful!” he exclaimed.
“Was it now,” she said sarcastically. “I notice that it wasn’t you who was forced to fall passionately in love with a total stranger for thirty seconds.”
“Well yes, I guess that wasn’t wonderful,” he conceded.
“No kidding.”
“But Alex. A chance to see the gods themselves – to discover they are really there, and still active in the world! That’s what is so wonderful!”
“Are you serious, Vijay? You can’t really believe they were gods, surely?”
“What else could they have been?”
“I don’t know. Mass hypnotists or something, maybe.”
“Well…,” he seemed to be trying to concede something to her, while not really wanting to. “I suppose Aphrodite and Eros could have been mass hypnotists – but they were obviously not working with Kama.”
“So?”
“So, how did a third ‘mass hypnotist’ just coincidentally happen to show up while they were playing their trick on you? They were clearly surprised, and didn’t want him there. That’s a pretty big coincidence.”
“Who said he was a mass hypnotist himself? I didn’t see him playing any tricks.”
“Alex,” Vijay said reprovingly. “Yes you did, and you know it. He walked through the whole restaurant – and it was very full – and nobody notice him. Dressed like that!”
“Well…yes, that was odd…”
“It wasn’t odd. It was divine.”
“Oh, Vijay!” she cried. “Do you hear what you’re saying?”
“And what is that?”
“That all the myths were true! That there really are gods behind every tree and in every grove. Maybe there’s even a sky god or two, throwing thunderbolts at each other. Is that what you’re saying you suddenly believe?”
“Yes. I think that’s what I’m saying.”
“Oh, great. And now I suppose you’re going to go all pious and shave your head and become a forest-dweller and meditate all day, or something.”
“No,” he said thoughtfully. “I don’t think I’m going to. I don’t think it’s necessary.”
“Why not? The Hindu gods like that, don’t they?”
“You know what? I got the impression that Kama didn’t care much about that sort of thing. I don’t think it matters nearly as much as priests and people like that try to say. I think I’ll ask him if I see him again.”
Alex shuddered. That’s what she was afraid of: that they might see Kama again, or that Aphrodite’s similar forecast of meeting again would turn out to be true. If she were to be totally honest with herself, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to see them (Aphrodite might have been sneaky and even a bit petulant, but she was still fascinating, as was her incredibly beautiful son), nor was it that she didn’t want the myths to be true. It was more the idea that if the myths were all true, then the world would be a much more wondrous and magical place than she had ever imagined. Which, she admitted frankly, she would love.
But to start believing that, and then to find out somehow that it wasn’t true after all, and it had all been some kind of illusion – well. It could be awfully hard to bear the world, after that. It would seem too colorless and bleak, to go back to the plain, materialistic world after such an illusion.
Better by far just to accept the world at face value, in all its stark factuality, and not let oneself indulge in magical wish-fulfillment. It was just safer that way.
(Chapter 2)
(Chapter 1, part 1)
Her son smiled agreement, and shaped his hand into the shape of a gun, it’s index finger-barrel pointing at Alex. “Bang,” he said softly.
Instantly, a wave of emotion rushed through Alex, sweeping her with it, as her heart began to race furiously. Look at that chef – just look at him! Had there ever been anyone so handsome in the world? So tall! So statuesque! The lines of wisdom on his face! Where had he been all her life?? Never mind, it didn’t matter – he was here now. She had found him at last. The man she had dreamed of, the one she’d been waiting for all her life.
She couldn’t wait an instant longer. She pushed past Vijay and flung herself at the chef, throwing her arms around his neck. She grabbed his head and kissed him madly, passionately. It was better, far better, than she had ever dreamed!
“Alex!” yelled Vijay. “What do you think you’re doing??”
“Whoa. Whoa, there!” said the chef. He peeled her off his face and held her at arm’s length. For some reason he was looking past her, at Aphrodite. “Again?” he growled.
“Sorry,” said the beautiful young man, and waved his hand in front of Alex’s face. She staggered back against the wall, shaking her head dizzily.
“It was necessary to prove a point,” said Aphrodite to her employee. “And yes – you may have tomorrow off, and the next day if you like, as compensation.”
“I’ll take both,” growled the chef. “I wish you’d quit doing this.” And he vanished back into the kitchen.
Alex gaped at the blond young man, all trace of her passion of a moment ago utterly gone now. He smiled apologetically. “I make it strong so it gets the point across as quickly as possible,” he said.
“Please don’t tell me your name is Cupid!” she gasped, still reeling from his little experiment.
“No it isn’t,” he said. “That’s the Roman name. My real name is – “
“Oh no!” she groaned.
“ – Eros.”
Aphrodite said, “I trust you believe me now? I do speak with some authority on matters of the heart.”
“Parlor tricks,” Alex said a little desperately. “Temporary hypnosis, maybe. For one thing,” she added, to the young man (his name couldn’t really be Eros, surely!), “aren’t you supposed to use a bow?”
“When I want to, sure,” he said. “But we’re trying to be inconspicuous, so I don’t use it very often these days. It’s just a prop, really. So I don’t actually use it.”
“But I do!” boomed a voice, coming from behind Aphrodite, toward the main seating area of the restaurant.
As one they turned toward the voice, Alex, Vijay, Aphrodite, and Eros. Alex stared incredulously at the bizarre apparition that blocked their view of the restaurant, but Vijay gasped.
“It can’t be!” he cried.
It was hard to decide what to be shocked about first. There was his blue skin, of course. And the fact that there was a lot of it to see, since he wore some bloomer-type pants to his knees, and only an open vest on top. Or one could be shocked at the vast amount of jewellery he wore: gold medallions, arm bands, rings, ear rings, jewels stuck into his mane of thick black hair, something like a tiara on his head, you name it, he was covered in it. (Funny how it didn’t jingle, though; it should have made such a din that one would have heard him coming a mile away.) Then there was his bow. Though one tip rested on the floor, the other end of it rose at least a foot above his head. And it seemed to be made – surely not? – of flowers.
The apparition was definitely male, but he had rounded cheeks, heavily made up black eyes, and red lips so full they were more feminine than masculine. And for a fleeting, shocking instant, Alex could have sworn that he had about six arms instead of two. Another trick of the light, it had to be, like Aphrodite’s glow.
Vijay was almost transported. “Is it – is truly you?” he gasped.
The apparition smiled gently at him. “Hello, Vijay. We haven’t met yet but yes, it is me. Kama.”
Vijay looked like he could stare at this Kama-person forever. Alex tugged on her friend’s arm. “Kama who?” she said.
Vijay tore his gaze away and looked at her. “Kama,” he said. “He’s the Hindu – he’s our – the god of love.”
“I should have known,” Aphrodite said in disgust, pursing her lips.
“Cool!” said Eros. “I’ve always wanted to meet him.”
“This is completely, utterly insane!” said Alex. “There is no such thing as a love god!”
The three supposed love gods stared at her for a moment.
“I did what I could, mother,” murmured Eros. “She still doesn’t believe us.”
“Oh, she believes us, alright,” said Aphrodite. “She just doesn’t want to admit it. She’s too rational.”
“I am not!” Alex cried. “No, wait, that’s not what I mean.”
The blue-skinned apparition turned his attention back to the Greek goddess. “I understand,” he said, “that you’ve often interfered where you don’t belong. I must warn you that this one is mine,” he pointed to Vijay. “You may do as you wish with your own, but do not toy with the emotions of this young man.”
“I already told him he’s not mine, so I can’t do anything for him,” she said defensively. She was almost pouting.
“I heard,” said Kama. “I’m just not certain I believe you. We used to hear a lot of tales in the old days.”
“Well, that was the old days,” said Aphrodite. “We don’t have as much scope any more. It’s different for you – you’ve still got official jobs. We have to be a lot more circumspect and inconspicuous.”
Briefly, Kama smiled. On him, the enigmatic smile looked deeper, more mysterious, and perhaps more dangerous than it had on Aphrodite’s face. “Lady,” he said. “I do not believe you could be inconspicuous no matter how you tried. Your beauty dazzles even when you veil it.”
Alex expected her to simper, but Aphrodite accepted the compliment with grace. “Thank you,” she said.
“Your followers were fools to forget you,” Kama added.
“They may have forgotten, but it doesn’t mean I don’t influence them anyway. It’s what I’m supposed to do.”
“True,” said Kama. “There would be no proper world without love. But I do repeat,” his gaze hardened momentarily, “that there are limits to what I will allow when you interfere with my own people. Remember that.”
Aphrodite sighed and almost rolled her eyes. The Hindu god turned to go.
“Kama!” cried Vijay. “Will I see you again?”
Again the slight smile. “Perhaps,” Kama said. “Surely everyone sees love at least once in their lives.”
“I mean – that is – in person, I mean,” Vijay stammered. He was still staring in what Alex could only call adoration. He, whom she had thought to be as realist as she prided herself on being.
For the first time, Kama seemed hesitant. “You may,” he said at last. “It has been a strict rule in recent centuries that very few may be allowed to see us with the naked eye. But Aphrodite, and others, have begun to walk visibly among people again, and I am not sure what that will mean for the future.” He chided the goddess again, “You may have made several grave errors here, Lady. I hope we do not all regret this.”
Now he turned from them and strode back through the tables and out through the patio. Disconcertingly, nobody seemed to notice him as he went past. A far cry from the attention Aphrodite had received, even though his appearance, strictly speaking, was far more garish and outlandish than hers. Every head should have been turning as they had done for her, but it was as though he wasn’t even there.
For the first time, truly, Alex began to wonder if these people were really who they said they were.
“Let’s get out of here, Vijay,” she muttered. “I’m not sure I can take much more of this.”
Aphrodite by now had stepped out of her way, but she was smiling that irritating smile again. “Good-bye, Alexandra,” said the goddess softly. “We will meet again.”
“Oh joy,” said Alex, and walked out of the restaurant. She didn’t look back, either at Aphrodite and her son, or to see if Vijay had followed her.
To her relief, he immediately appeared at her side. “That was wonderful!” he exclaimed.
“Was it now,” she said sarcastically. “I notice that it wasn’t you who was forced to fall passionately in love with a total stranger for thirty seconds.”
“Well yes, I guess that wasn’t wonderful,” he conceded.
“No kidding.”
“But Alex. A chance to see the gods themselves – to discover they are really there, and still active in the world! That’s what is so wonderful!”
“Are you serious, Vijay? You can’t really believe they were gods, surely?”
“What else could they have been?”
“I don’t know. Mass hypnotists or something, maybe.”
“Well…,” he seemed to be trying to concede something to her, while not really wanting to. “I suppose Aphrodite and Eros could have been mass hypnotists – but they were obviously not working with Kama.”
“So?”
“So, how did a third ‘mass hypnotist’ just coincidentally happen to show up while they were playing their trick on you? They were clearly surprised, and didn’t want him there. That’s a pretty big coincidence.”
“Who said he was a mass hypnotist himself? I didn’t see him playing any tricks.”
“Alex,” Vijay said reprovingly. “Yes you did, and you know it. He walked through the whole restaurant – and it was very full – and nobody notice him. Dressed like that!”
“Well…yes, that was odd…”
“It wasn’t odd. It was divine.”
“Oh, Vijay!” she cried. “Do you hear what you’re saying?”
“And what is that?”
“That all the myths were true! That there really are gods behind every tree and in every grove. Maybe there’s even a sky god or two, throwing thunderbolts at each other. Is that what you’re saying you suddenly believe?”
“Yes. I think that’s what I’m saying.”
“Oh, great. And now I suppose you’re going to go all pious and shave your head and become a forest-dweller and meditate all day, or something.”
“No,” he said thoughtfully. “I don’t think I’m going to. I don’t think it’s necessary.”
“Why not? The Hindu gods like that, don’t they?”
“You know what? I got the impression that Kama didn’t care much about that sort of thing. I don’t think it matters nearly as much as priests and people like that try to say. I think I’ll ask him if I see him again.”
Alex shuddered. That’s what she was afraid of: that they might see Kama again, or that Aphrodite’s similar forecast of meeting again would turn out to be true. If she were to be totally honest with herself, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to see them (Aphrodite might have been sneaky and even a bit petulant, but she was still fascinating, as was her incredibly beautiful son), nor was it that she didn’t want the myths to be true. It was more the idea that if the myths were all true, then the world would be a much more wondrous and magical place than she had ever imagined. Which, she admitted frankly, she would love.
But to start believing that, and then to find out somehow that it wasn’t true after all, and it had all been some kind of illusion – well. It could be awfully hard to bear the world, after that. It would seem too colorless and bleak, to go back to the plain, materialistic world after such an illusion.
Better by far just to accept the world at face value, in all its stark factuality, and not let oneself indulge in magical wish-fulfillment. It was just safer that way.
(Chapter 2)
