Author's note- This is an anthology series set in the same location of a mysterious dreamy Greek inn, yet the characters and plot differ so they can be read separately or in any order the reader chooses. Enjoy!
~Ode to a Grecian Spurn~
You know the story, it's older than antiquity. Boy meets girl. Girl makes boy successful. Boy leaves girl for newer model. Downright clichΓ©. Of course, the unoriginality of it all doesn't make it feel any better when it actually happens to you.
After Theo made partner at his firm I expected a proposal. Instead I got summarily dismissed and replaced by his pretty young secretary. I had given up everything for him, countless long nights waiting tables to pay his way through law school, any chance at a real career of my own, not to mention a good chunk of my prime baby making years. What did I get in return? A Dear Joan email. A &%$#ing email. SMH. Lawyers.
Suffice it to say once Theo dumped me like a two-day-old donut I just wanted to crawl inside a box of Krispy Kremes and never crawl out. Instead I booked a flight to Greece. A bottle of wine was just as good a refuge as a dozen assorted and less fattening to boot. Plus my best friend assured me that the timeless beauty and sunny vistas were just what the doctor ordered to soothe a broken heart.
Though sitting in a dimly lit Greek bar listening to euro-club music thumping in the background was doing nothing for my aching heart. My aching head, on the other hand, was pounding away with the beat. I suddenly wanted to leave. Too many drinks. Too many sympathetic glances.
The pain on my face must have shown as clearly as a mask of Greek tragedy. Even the blind old innkeeper gave me a look of sympathy as she handed over my room key. At least I think she did. It might have been the liquor talking but I could have sworn she was wearing a glittery gold jumpsuit and a multicolored afro wig.
She mumbled something about a 'stone-cold bummer' and held up a power fist. "Keep on keeping on, sister."
As I hurried away from the disco duck of desk clerks I wondered just where my friend had found this place. All she would say is that she had spent a memorable night there once. It wasn't so much what she said but how she said it that struck me. The way her voice went raspy and her eyes got all glossy like she had just seen a buck-naked Idris Elba riding a unicorn. A unicorn? Really?
Wow, I really must be drunk.
When I got to my room my head was spinning a bit too fast to notice much about the space. I dumped my bags and went straight to the bathroom mirror. Big mistake. The face reflected back looked even worse than I suspected. Bags ringed my hazel eyes, frizzy brown hair hung deflated around my puffy make-up smeared face. My dress clung a little too tightly to my short curvy figure. I bore a depressingly close resemblance to a knockoff Barbie doll someone fished out of the harbor. Biscayne Bay Barb. (dignity not included)
Groaning I found my way to the enormous canopy bed and crawled beneath the covers, longing for sleep. My mind and body were feeling worn down to a weary nub. I must have been more wasted than I thought because the intricately carved figures on the headboard were dancing before my eyes. The weirdest part?
They were doing the hustle.
Ξ©
I woke with a start. It was quiet, too quiet. The rowdy clamor of sailors which my ears had lately become accustomed to were suddenly gone. My waking thoughts jumbled together like a ball of twine- and then it came rushing back. That freakin' twine!
Theseus had showed up in Minos as a sacrifice, brash and cocky even in his chains. I fell head over heels for him instantly. He was intended to be a sacrifice to my father King Minos to feed his insatiable Minotaur. But Theseus had other plans. He defeated the monster and conquered its maze- but not without help, mind you. It was I, Princess Ariadne, who gave him the plan and the ball of twine so he could find his way out of the inscrutable Labyrinth.
The fact is if it wasn't for me he would have been Minotaur chow like all the others. And all I asked in return was one simple thing; a promise of marriage.
Now he was nowhere to be seen. No wait- a quick gaze on the horizon revealed the black sails of his ship. It was nothing but a tiny dot bobbing on the turquoise sea. I watched it get smaller and smaller until my vision blurred with tears and I could see it no longer.
Then I really let loose. Sobbing, wailing, shoulders shaking, snot streaming, full-on ugly cry. I was alone on an unknown shore, forsaken and abandoned. What else was I supposed to do but throw a pity party for one? I had defied my father, risked my neck and left my homeland forever, all for him. And how does he repay me- by dumping me like unwanted baggage on some gods' forsaken island. I just hope whatever politically convenient Princess his advisors urge him to marry will hound him like a Fury with a permanent case of PMS. I choked on a harsh cackle turned sob.
Yet there is only so long one can cry oneself silly before running out of steam- and moisture. Finally I managed to pull myself together long enough to dry my eyes and survey my surroundings. I turned my head left and then right- nothing but rocky coastline as far as the eye could see. To my back lay a lush woodland. Even through a veil of tears I could tell the place was as beautiful as it was remote.
My mouth was parched from all the crying so the gurgling of a nearby stream beckoned me like a siren's song. I followed the sound into the woods. Soon I discovered a small brook cutting through the forest floor. Cupping my hands to the water's surface, I brought the sweet cool liquid to my lips. It was delicious and refreshing, like a frozen margarita on a hot day, so I drank my fill.
Lulled by its gentle babble, I followed the meandering water upstream to find myself, after a few minutes of walking, in a sunlit clearing. The air there was cool and fragrant. Wildflowers speckled the lush grass, their hue almost impossibly bright like an old Technicolor movie. Nearby a waterfall sung out a soothing melody as the water tumbled down a rocky cliff side to join with the stream below. It was beautiful. But beautiful was a woefully inadequate description. Magical? Yeah, that fit the bill. The place was freaking magical!
From somewhere in the forest the distant stains of music and laughter reached my ears. The sound gradually got louder until finally a band of musicians broke through the trees. The musicians held their cymbals and double flutes high as they played an unexpectedly groovy tune. They were closely followed by a pack of dancing nymphs and maenads. There were at least a dozen of them and each one was young, lovely and totally wasted. They twirled and gyrated to the music, some of them staggering, others linked together arm in arm to keep themselves upright. It was like pledge week at Omega Boozy.
Next came two large men riding massive horses. It was only once they emerged into the sunlight that I noticed one minor detail- animal and rider were attached at the waist. They were not separate creatures at all but centaurs. I blinked in disbelief at the novel sight of rugged man-torsos perched atop huge horse bodies.
Well, this day just keeps getting weirder.
To make it even more surreal they lugged a cask of wine under each muscular arm and a cart with even more casks behind them. Their burly human chests glistened with sweat.
"Keep up, Silenus." One of the sweaty centaurs called out from behind in a bellowing voice.
"Hold your horses!" Replied the enormously fat man who came tottering up from the rear on a very tired looking donkey. His round, sweaty belly jiggled with each step of the poor overburdened animal. "Or should I say horse's ass." He laughed at his own jest making his belly jiggle all the more. Yet the stone-faced centaur remained unamused.
With the loud popping of corks the centaurs opened the casks under their arms. They held them high in the air and tipped, letting the sticky wine spill down all over the maenads, like an ancient wet t-shirt contest. That is, if any of them had been wearing t-shirts. The dress code with this crowd appeared to be clothing optional and no one had gone for the clothed option. I felt ridiculously overdressed in my sheer white tunic.
