Better to Give; Alcmene has some unexpected visitors. A response to the March 2003 challenge. The day had started out so quietly. Ceres gave early spring mornings a fresh quality that was unique. The smell of freshly turned earth, the colors of flowering fruit trees had greeted Alcmene when she opened her front door. When exactly had it all gone wrong? "Mom! Mom, are Iolaus’s pants dry yet? He’s hungry and he wants to come out." Alcmene’s moment of reverie was lost as Hercules came into the kitchen. The wet leather pants hung over a chair near the fireplace. Although they were no longer dripping onto the hearthstones, they were still quite damp to her touch. "Tell him to wrap a blanket around himself and come along," she told her son. "Dinner is ready anyway, so you can both come here and tell me what happened." As she dished up the meal, her son and his friend came out of the bedroom. Iolaus looked a little sheepish with the blue blanket from Hercules’s bed wrapped around his waist, the ends dragging on the floor behind him, but he brightened considerably as she placed the steaming plate of food on the table. "Chicken stew! This looks delicious, Alcmene!" he cried as he took his place across from Hercules. "Is there any lemonade?" he asked, raising his brilliant blue eyes with his request. "Yes, there is lemonade." Alcemene shook her head in resignation as she poured the drinks from a bright yellow ceramic pitcher. "But you can’t have any seconds until you tell me how you ended up in the temple's reflecting pool." The two young men eagerly filled their plates with stew. Alcmene helped herself to a slice of freshly baked bread, smiling at their obvious enjoyment of her cooking. Maybe a quiet day wasn't all it was cracked up to be after all. Her life had become very predictable now that both her sons were gone out into the world. She looked forward to the times Hercules came home from Cheiron's Academy. Things tended to liven up then, especially when he brought Iolaus with him, which was most of the time. It brought back memories of her younger days, when she had been visited by gods. "So, tell me about the dog," she prompted the boys as they mopped up the last of the stew with pieces of bread. "The dog! Where is the dog?" Iolaus sat up and looked around the room. "Did he get anything to eat? Here, boy, here, boy!" he called, ducking his curly head to look under the table. "He's out in the garden," Alcmene began, but before she could finish her sentence, Iolaus was at the door, trailing the ends of his blanket behind him. "Maybe it's a good thing his dad never let him have a dog," laughed Hercules. "He'd never have come to the Academy if he had to leave it behind." Mother and son got up and followed Iolaus outside. They found him sitting on a bench among the rose bushes, giggling as a long legged, floppy eared puppy with a bright green ribbon around his neck wriggled on his lap, trying to lick his cheek. "Dogs should not be dedicated to Ares," Iolaus laughed, pushing the dog away from his face. "They're much too friendly! All that 'dogs of war' stuff is way wrong!" "The Spartans use dogs in battle," said Hercules. "We had it in history class, don't you remember?" "Oh, well. The Spartans. They use everything for war," Iolaus replied disdainfully. "But not you, eh, boy?" He rubbed the little dog between its ears and was rewarded with another happy lick on the face. Alcmene sat on the bench opposite the happy pair, and Hercules flung himself on the ground at her feet. The puppy ignored them both, completely devoted to his rescuer. "I still don't understand what you were doing at Aphrodite's temple in the first place," began Alcmene, still trying to get an explanation of how the boys had arrived at her doorstep dripping wet, with a puppy and a large bouquet of bedraggled flowers clutched in their hands. "I just wanted to make an offering," began Iolaus. "An offering to Aphrodite?" "Iolaus needs all the help he can get with girls," put in Hercules dryly, settling back against the bench, his long legs stretched out in front of him. "I do not!" cried his handsome friend. "But, you never know. It doesn't hurt to get the gods on your side." He paused. "Aphrodite does like flowers, doesn't she? She is a girl, after all, and girls like flowers." "They're lovely, Iolaus. I'm sure the goddess would have enjoyed them," said Alcmene. "But, why weren't you able to leave them at the temple?" She had discarded the most crumpled blossoms from the bouquet and put the rest in a large vase while the boys had stripped off their wet clothes in Hercules's bedroom. "It wasn't my fault!" said Iolaus. He absentmindedly petted the puppy who was now settled down on his lap with an expression of contentment on his little black face. "It was those wine merchants. They were driving much too fast through the market. When Hector ran out into the road, they almost ran over him!" "Hector?" asked Alcmene. "Hector!" Iolaus picked up the little dog. "He's just a pup, now, but he has great potential." Hector licked his face enthusiastically. "Iolaus jumped out in front of the wine merchants' wagon and grabbed the puppy," explained Hercules. "They had to swerve out of the way to miss him, and that's when the amphora fell off the wagon." "I see." Alcmene waited for further details, her view of the incident actually still quite muddled. "It rolled down the hill by the smith's," Iolaus continued the story. "You know, at the corner of the market? We tried to stop it, but it got away from us. Next thing we knew, it had rolled right into the temple grounds." "The priestesses thought it was a gift for the temple! It rolled right up to the statue of Aphrodite at the edge of the pool!" explained Hercules. "The merchant was not too thrilled about it! I think he's a Dionysus worshipper," laughed Iolaus. "He'd better be!" agreed Hercules. "Being in the wine business and all!" After a pause, Alcmene asked, "And how did you get into the reflecting pool?" "Hector jumped in to chase the swans!" said Iolaus proudly. "He has great hunting instincts!" he added as the little dog's ears perked up at the mention of his name. "By the time Iolaus got the dog out of the pool, and the swans calmed down, and the merchant gave the priestesses some gold in place of the wine, and we got the amphora back onto the wagon, well, we were starved," said Hercules. "We were wet and starved!" said Iolaus. "We were wet and starved, and it was getting late, and we had Hector to take care of. So we came here instead of going back to the Academy." "I'm glad you did, I think," said Alcmene, resting a hand on her son's shoulder. "What are you going to do with Hector now?" she asked. "I wish I could keep him!" cried Iolaus. "He'd be such babe magnet!" "Iolaus!" "What? Chicks love dogs, Herc!" "He is awfully cute," said Alcmene, reaching over to pet the tiny creature. "But I think he may grow up to be a big dog." "I guess I can't keep him hidden in the dorm, huh?" said Iolaus sadly. "I know!" He perked up suddenly. "I bet Uncle Flatus could use a good hunting dog! Hector here is a natural! Did you see the way he went after those swans, Herc? And they were twice his size! Three time his size! He's fearless!" "Remind you of anybody you know?" Hercules smiled up at his mother. Alcmene laughed, ruffling her son's hair as she rose to her feet. "How about some more lemonade?" She walked toward the house in the gathering dusk. The quiet life was definitely not all it was cracked up to be. *** That night at a certain temple, two beautiful women walked in the moonlight. "So you see, sister, he meant to give me the flowers, but somehow they ended up with Alcmene," said one, adjusting the flowing pink lace of her loose robe. "And the dog goes to Flatus," said the other, the moonlight shining on her leather hunting habit. "He's one of my favorites, though, so I don't mind," she added. "Alcmene deserves the flowers, too. They were a little crumpled, anyway." The two sat on the edge of the reflecting pool. After a moment of silence, the leather-clad woman said, "I think we will have to share him, you know." "I know!" said the other. "And I can't think of anyone I'd rather share him with than you, sister. Hermes had his try, but thievery just doesn't agree with his honest nature." "Athena tried too, until she decided he was a hopeless case!" They laughed, remembering the goddess of wisdom's sighs of frustration. "Ares wants a go, but I don't think he has a future as a soldier. He's brave and has good fighting skills, but he'd never go for all that 'yes, sir, no, sir' stuff!" "Ares has his father," said the huntress. "That's enough for any one god!" "I think he's all ours, sister! His true gifts are hunting and loving." "His instinct for the hunt is truly remarkable!" said Artemis. "But is he a lover?" "He loves women, all right!" Aphrodite laughed. "And they love him! But more than that he loves life so much: his friends, and food, and sleep, all that mortal stuff. He just really enjoys living! It's a rare gift. I'm looking forward to meeting him some day. I think he'll be one of my very favorite mortals!" The End |