The Rostral Columns at Vasilyevsky Island, St. Petersburg
“This isn’t how I remembered it, husband.”
“I believe we’ve lost our way. Come.”
“No!” She shook off her brother’s hand. “Something’s familiar here, yet alien. This can’t be my temple.”
“It’s been thousands of years.”
“Take your hands off of me, philanderer. Which slut were you with last night? Artemis? Circe? That whore Aphrodite?”
“Sister…”
“Don’t you sister me, Zeus!”
“Olympus awaits, Hera. You shouldn’t have returned. We’re forgotten.”
Tears formed in the eyes of the goddess of women and marriage. “I suppose you’re right.”
Then she turned on him in anger. “I still think you want to get back to Olympus because you’re screwing another immortal harlot.”
“Please, wife.”
Hera consented allowing Zeus to escort her back to Olympus, missing the gleam in his eye as he gazed at the fetching St. Petersburg lass admiring one of the Rostral columns. After Hera was settled down, he’d be back.
I wrote this for the What Pegman Saw flash fiction challenge. The idea is to take a Google street view image of the location presented and use it as the inspiration for crafting a story of no more than 150 words. My word count is 150.
Today, the Pegman takes us to St. Petersburg, Russia. I had to do quite a bit of searching and clicking around, and I even changed my story idea completely before settling on what you’ve read above. Go to Wikipedia to read about the Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns. I drew my inspiration from the columns being styled after the Temple of Hera at Paestum. Hera was the Greek goddess of women and marriage who married her brother Zeus, and has always been jealous of Zeus’s other lovers. Here, I had Hera getting a little lost, mistaking these columns for her temple. On the other hand, Zeus seems to know exactly what he’s looking for.
To read other stories based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com. Don’t be shy. If an image of St. Petersburg inspires you, contribute a wee story of your own.
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Unfolds delightfully! Crafty, clever and funny.
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Thanks. Hera and Zeus make it easy.
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Nice story, James. I like the idea that Zeus still has only one thing on his mind!
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He was quite the womanizer. Goddess and mortal women both were on his mind (which is where the Demi-gods came from).
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What a rogue that Zeus is, was . . . whatever. This is a delightful tale.
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Thanks, Alicia. According to mythology, he was quite a rogue indeed.
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He was a piece of work, all right!
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An unusual and impishly immoral tale. I really enjoyed this James. Nice to see your mythological gifts and research out to play.
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I remember reading about the mythical Greek gods a college lit class. Zeus was a randy son of a gun.
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He certainly had a lot of fun.
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That he did, Kelvin.
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Dear James,
Some things just don’t change over centuries. Randy Zeus indeed. Clever story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle.
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Ha! Oh, that Zeus…
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Great story. You really have done a good research and topped it with humor. Really liked the historical fiction concept. 🙂
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Thanks. Research courtesy of Wikipedia for the most part.
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