Daily Flash Fiction entry: Finding new purpose in life. |
The Bored God (293 words) Things were slow up on Mount Olympus, so I put on my golden arm bands and went down to see the people. The hustle and bustle of city life never failed to surprise me. I came across a man on a park bench. Puffing out my muscular, bare chest, I asked him, “Do you know who I am?” He looked up from his cell phone. Expressionless, he gave me the once over. “Not quite sure—” “I am Zeus!” The man blinked. “Well, I, uh…” I tucked in my bearded chin. “Chief deity of the pantheon?” I hinted, with encouragement. “Is that the new restaurant on Fourth and Main?” “I am the sender of lightning and thunder!” “Well, I suppose that would explain the lightning bolt in your hand.” I raised that hand. “Do you not fear me?” I demanded. He rolled his eyes. “Look—Zeus, is it?—lightning is caused by the interaction of charges, between clouds and Earth.” Huffing a breath, deflating, I slumped down on the bench. “How I long for the old days,” I said. “When I had purpose.” The man smiled. “You know what they say—when one door closes, a window opens.” “What nonsense do you speak?” “Sometimes, our purpose changes.” I nodded, sadly. “Times change.” “And we must change with them.” “Damn that Galileo Galilee and his scientific method,” I muttered. “That’s where it all started.” I thanked the man, then walked the streets, dragging my lightning bolt. A sign in a book shop window caught my eye. It read: Help Wanted. In I went. One look at me and the shop owner exclaimed, “You’re perfect!” I started the next day, leading story-time circle. And now I light sparks in the imagination of children. |