Part 1 – One Reunion and One Hello

      This new series has its history in the form of several short stories, a number of poems and a 13-part series. Anthi Psomiadou has graciously agreed to appear again as a fictional character in this new series.

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      A great city, whose image dwells in the memory of man, is the type of some great idea. Rome represents conquest; Faith hovers over the towers of Jerusalem; and Athens embodies the pre-eminent quality of the antique world, Art. Benjamin Disraeli

      Cryssarina, my love, I will call you Eléni as soon as we land in Greece. If Goddess Athena named you thus, who am I to decide otherwise?

      “M, the love of my life, I told you to feel free to call me Cryssarina even in Athens and throughout Greece. Goddess Athena with all her wisdom will understand that you also love Cryssarina because of the sound that it makes in your head. I love it too, especially when it comes out of your lips. And remember that Anthi had said that it had Greek roots as well. Feel free, my king, to call me as you wish.”

      O, my queen, I am but the prick whom you love. Even one of my loyal readers thinks as much when she highlights every such instance in the stories that I write. A king I am not and never want to be. I am but a lost writer trying to find the right words in a world that still believes in magic. What about Goddess Athena? some of you will surely ask. Goddess Athena has been awakened from her endless slumber by Patrick, another prick, whom the same reader also highlights, by Jove; I mean, by Zeus.

      “Come on, my M! You know it is not true. You have a prick but you are not defined by it. Oh, M! We are very close to Athens. I can feel Athena in my mind. She is smiling and happy. She will meet us tonight. I already called Anthi before we left. She will meet us at the airport. Rigópoula is living on the island now, so we will see her later. I am so excited, M. You will be too. I promise, my love.”

      How can I not be? You are with me and I am going to meet two goddesses. One from Ancient Greece and one from Modern Athens. And Patrick, I suppose, will be there too. Whoop-de-doo! I am kidding, of course. He may have awakened a goddess, but mine has four syllables in her name, one for every season.

      “You are being silly again. I love it when you are. The plane has begun its descent.”

      Save me, Cryssarina! Is that a roach over there near the washroom sign?

      “Stop it, M! The plane has to land before we could see one, and it is still daylight, so they are all still in Hades waiting for nightfall, my love. And Athena promised to keep most of them away as she does for Patrick.”

      It only takes one, Cryssarina, just one flying abomination. Is Anthi bringing Aphrodite, Rigópoula’s falcon? Of course, not! What am I saying? It lives with her on the island. I am already panicking just at the possibility of seeing one roach. I need some cannabis to calm me down. We had to hide it in our luggage, of course. We could have brought it in the carry-on. It is in the form of chocolate. No one would have suspected. I cannot believe it is still illegal in most countries. It is God’s plant. How can they criminalise such a plant? It goes to show how hypocritical they are. Even atheists call it God’s plant. It may be the proof we have been looking for. If there is a God, S/He must be on it perpetually. Perhaps it is the reason why everything that happens is cool with God, even Slavery and the Shoah (Holocaust) among so many other systemic horrors. God must be high all the time. No ((giggles)) for this goddess! It is reprehensible at the least. I always thought that even if there was a God, I would not give a dust of a piece of crap. And all those that mention that God works in mysterious ways should shove that reasoning up their asses.

      “Calm down, my love! You know that I agree.”

      C’est un bordel, cette religion de merde. Quelle farce! (Religion is a shitty mess. What a farce!)

      “Calme-toi, mon M! Sinon, tu auras le cafard*. Je m’excuse mais c’était trop bon pour laisser passer.” (Calm down, my M! Otherwise, you will have the blues. I apologise but it was too good to pass over. *Cafard also means roach in French.)

      I love you, Cryssarina.

      “I know, my M. I love you too.”

      We have landed in Goddess Athena’s sphere of wisdom. I feel excited too and will not let those insects ruin it for us even if I see them. Of course, it never works, being a phobia. I wonder how Patrick managed during the days before he finally met her. Maybe she was already taking care of them for him without him noticing it. I love her too, you know, my Cryssarina, but in a different way, of course.

      “We all love her, my M. It is impossible not to. She emanates love from her entire being. Zeus really created someone unparalleled. Here is to you, Zeus!”

      To think that I cannot consider myself an atheist any longer. I believe in Athena, and Zeus, and all the other gods and goddesses by extension. I still dislike the word, believe. It is a fact, not a belief. I am also excited to meet Anthi, the flowers of Athens.

      “You will very soon. I missed her but I always felt her given our interconnection with Goddess Athena from the moment we met her.”

      Do you think that I will be interconnected too after I meet Goddess Athena?

      “I have no doubt about it. She loves you too, you know. She loves anyone who is connected to Patrick. She is a real goddess, after all.”

      I felt my wooden heart cracking when we landed in Athens, but not from fear, although a flying roach would have changed all that in a second. I felt elated. I was going to meet Anthi first of all. Will she look like Greek flowers, all blue and white like Greece and its flag? And later, I was going to meet Goddess Athena; the Goddess of Wisdom no less. I was hoping for the best in terms of being able to take it all in after everything that I had read, heard and saw in the photographs that Cryssarina had showed me. Patrick found his happiness, I found mine, and now we were going to connect all the dots.

      We passed through customs like a cool breeze with our COVID vaccination stamp attached to our passports, picked our many bags with the help of a masked porter, and headed to the exit. I saw Cryssarina’s eyes light up when she saw Anthi, but I had already noticed her a few seconds before, surprised by sudden strong palpitations at seeing her gracefulness as she advanced towards us. Cryssarina hugged and kissed her and then introduced me as her M. Our eyes already met when they were kissing each other, and it seemed as if we had known each other since some immaterial time. Anthi was even more beautiful than her photograph had shown, emanating light as if she was a little sun. I kissed her on both cheeks, lingering on the right one as was apparently the custom, but then suddenly hugged her, as if controlled by some external force. She did not seem surprised, hugging me back. It was as if we were meeting again after a long time apart.

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      I actually felt this scene of our first meeting deeply while writing it, surprised that it brought me many tears. I must like Anthi more than I thought. Having her as a character in numerous stories and reading almost everything that she has written on Medium must have left an indelible mark on my being. I wonder if it happens often. I stopped writing to collect myself and speculate about the meaning of this outburst of feeling. I am writing fiction as if I was describing a real event. I am sure that Anthi may have an explanation, although I remain perplexed and unsure on how to proceed. I even changed the subtitle to reflect only one reunion instead of the two that were planned, leaving the one with Goddess Athena for the following part.

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      “Do you see, M? Goddess Athena has already connected you to us. I feel you feeling Anthi.”

      I do, Cryssarina. I feel love towards her. Is that what you expected, my love?

“Yes, my M. Anthi will concur.”

      Yes, I feel it too. You are now part of us, Anthi replied.

      I did not know what to think at that point. We had to take two large taxis given all our luggage, Cryssarina and Anthi taking one and I taking the other, as we began our new life in Modern Greece not too far from the Ancient one, which was now being overseen by Goddess Athena, although she kept herself unseen to most Athenians, all of Greece, and all the rest of humanity.

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      I would like to thank Anthi Psomiadou for her continued kindness and support. Patrick has Goddess Athena for his wooden heart; I have Cryssarina, but she does not possess any powers except for her love. It is, however, the most powerful one. Love long and repeat as much as you can!

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Part 2 – Two More Reunions and One More Hello

      Anthi Psomiadou has graciously agreed once again to appear as a fictional character in this new series.

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      Earth proudly wears the Parthenon as the best gem upon her zone. Ralph Waldo Emerson

      It took over half an hour for the hotel porter to bring all our luggage to our room, but it was to be expected given our twelve suitcases, not including the carry-ons. It was a move after all, not a vacation. We were officially on our way to become Greeks, which could take at least three years if all went well. Goddess Athena could speed things, of course, but that was not official, so to speak ((giggles)). Everybody would be in love with her.

      It was late afternoon and the Sun was still out with all its eminence. We were close to the Aegean Sea that was actually part of the mythical Mediterranean, although it was as real as Goddess Athena. Everything was blue and white around us; colours that could soothe any spirit. No wonder that Zeus had chosen Greece for his realm. I felt at home within minutes, rapidly grasping what had happened to my Cryssarina, and Patrick before her, when they arrived here. And if Anthi represents Greece, then Greece is the place to be. Greece is heaven on Earth.

      It was also strange to feel someone else inside. Back in Canada, with all my love for Cryssarina, I did not feel her inside. I felt my love for her in my mind and therefore in my chest. But here, I felt both her and Anthi inside me, as if we were connected somehow. I finally understood what Cryssarina had meant. I did not meet Goddess Athena and she already included me in her circle. I never thought that such power was even possible. I looked at Cryssarina and Anthi and we understood each other without having to say a word. It was almost intoxicating.

      Anthi even knew that we did not want her to leave but to accompany us a few hours later to meet Goddess Athena and Patrick, as well as Glaukopis, her owl, which means “little owl” in Greek. I was too excited to think straight, yet my eyes kept scanning every wall and hollow for the possibility of a roach. I was hoping that Goddess Athena could cure my phobia but then remembered that she could not cure Patrick, keeping the roaches away as the best second resort. If she could make Athens roach-free, it would truly become Heaven, at least for me and Patrick.

      Refreshed and excited, all three of us, after also spending some time to get to know each other, especially Anthi and M; I mean me, we took a taxi to Goddess Athena’s place. Patrick never described its whereabouts and Cryssarina could not either, since Goddess Athena in her wisdom chose to keep it secret and not let them remember where it was. The taxi driver did not need to ask us where we were going given that he somehow knew where to take us. We figured that he would forget the address as soon as he left. Even now, I cannot describe where we were and neither can Cryssarina. (Anthi could leave a comment in case she remembers, but even if she does, she will surely not, knowing that it is a secret.)

      I was not sure how to greet Goddess Athena, so I bowed and kissed her hand. She smiled and kissed me on both cheeks, also lingering on the right one. Her beauty was out of this world. I have no words to give it justice. It was not human. I can say that it was divine. (I can see Anthi smiling.) Patrick barely looked at me at first, but seeing the love in Goddess Athena’s eyes, he changed his stance and shook my hand before finally embracing me, and believe it or not, crying. It did not take very long for me to join him. What a couple of crybabies we are! That fact, I easily remember as if it occurred while I was writing about it.

      I kept looking at Goddess Athena, unable to easily accept her existence. And yet, she was there in front of me in the flesh. I wanted to kiss her again, and she sensed it, of course, asking me to come near her and kissing me on the mouth, as she had done to Cryssarina during her first visit to Greece. I felt pure love. There was no hint of lust in it and perhaps the reason why Patrick did not seem to mind. The problem was that I could not get enough. It was like a drug. I wanted to kiss her again. She smiled and spoke to my mind, and like Cryssarina, I suddenly understood Greek. She told me that she loved me almost as much as Patrick, but that he was, of course, the man that she was in love with, but that she knew that I was the one who had loved her from the beginning. Patrick was the one who took the trip and won both her mind and her heart. I knew that I had my own goddess, and Goddess Athena mentioned it, knowing that I knew it and loved my Eléni. My Cryssarina, she added, aware that it was the name that I preferred. Yet, I suddenly felt that Eléni was the right name for my love, deciding at that moment to always call her Eléni from then on.

      Glaukopis looked at me strangely, probably trying to figure out how come Patrick and I looked so alike. I heard Patrick explain to him that we were like twins, except that he was luckier. I could not stop laughing and everyone joined in, which made the little owl even more confused, at which point it flew away to its perch on an olive tree near one of the windows. I figured that I would converse with Glaukopis some other time. I wanted to hear it recite the long French curse from The Matrix Reloaded. It is surely the funniest part of all the trilogy.

      We had a feast fit for a queen, yet we were eating with a goddess. I had known happiness before, but this evening was pure happiness from beginning to end. I finally understood Patrick. He was right to leave and try his luck. But I was right to stay and live with mine. There is no single way to reach a state of happiness, as the real Anthi had written more than once. Many paths can lead to it, but we have to be on one, and sometimes we are on it without knowing it. This last phrase was never truer than in the movie (and novel on which it is based), The Hours, which, by the way, I consider to be the best movie ever made. And whoever holds that it is a chick movie is but a foolish fool. I will even go further and add that I cannot imagine a better movie. If you have not seen it, make time, and once is not sufficient. It is the perfect movie in every sense, and the music by Philip Glass is simply breathtaking.

      At one point, we discussed the fact that Eléni and M; I mean me, needed to find a place to live. We had booked the hotel room for two weeks, hoping that it will give us enough time to find a home. Goddess Athena would not hear any of it, offering us a wing of her place, which again, I cannot seem to be able to describe except that it is very large, probably the equivalent of a large three-bedroom apartment with all the amenities, imaginable and not. She had spoken to our minds and we agreed on the spot. It seems that Patrick already knew it and just pretended not to. A prick will always be a prick. (I bet that this “prick” sentence could be highlighted soon enough.)

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      I would like to thank Anthi Psomiadou for her continued participation as a fictional character called Anthi based as much as possible on the real flowers of Greece. Why would an atheist write about a Greek goddess? is the question that seems to come up in my mind again and again. I think that I know the answer, but it is not one that has to be intimated to anyone.

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Part 3 – Un Ménage à quatre par deux

      Anthi Psomiadou has graciously agreed once again to appear as a fictional character in this new series. The French subtitle means: A Foursome by Two.

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      How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens! Alexander the Great

      Our feast with Goddess Athena never ended as far as I know. Her beauty coupled with her wisdom kept us all enchanted, forgetting that we were mortals and happy to be alive. We all loved her, feeling it together like un ménage à cinq (a household of five). Being a bird, however intelligent it was, Glaukopis did not count, especially that it was asleep on its olive tree, probably dreaming of Patrick and M; I mean me. I hope that it was not a nightmare for the little owl. Anthi had to leave at some point to return to her life, but it seems that Goddess Athena wanted her to stay — we all did — and thus Anthi remained with the rest of us after calling her family to tell them that she would be very late. Patrick and M; I mean me, were sitting with three stunning women, each of us in love with one, and all of us in love with Anthi, and one of these to-die-for women was a real goddess. It has already happened and I feel it as if it is happening right now, as I am writing about it. At least now, I know how to call it, I know what it is. I was and am happy. There is no equal to this feeling. Love is only part of it. All you need is love could be easily replaced by “all you need is happiness”, although the latter is much harder to attain. And as the movie, The Hours, intimated, we are often happy without knowing it, and it is only when we lose it that we know that we had it. The real Anthi is aware of it, as is my Anthi in this story, the Anthi who remained with us, knowing that no one in their right mind could abandon happiness, no matter what awaited them in their principal life.

      We were not at all sleepy, and we were drinking both red wine and ouzo.

      O ouzo! What a
      booze you are! Happily, you
      are not tsipouro.

      We were happy, as I mentioned, and all thanks to a goddess. Perhaps religion is a good thing, after all, but not the organised, strict, you-have-to kind. It has to be a religion that gives you a feeling of freedom, knowing that everything is going to be alright, choosing to forego all scientific facts in the name of happiness. It is a good deal. Unfortunately, I cannot unlearn what I know to be fact at around 99%. Science always admits that nothing is 100%, except for a number of absolutes like the weight of a proton and the acronym AI. It stands for a few other things, but everyone seems to remember that it stands for artificial intelligence. It is already building bridges in our genes. One could also worship a city, like Athens. Why not? It is big enough. It comes with a real goddess, and even I live there. Did I digress? I have no narrator to blame. Perhaps it is because of Anthi. You know that her name means “flowers” in Greek. So, I can rectify my previous phrase and say that we were drinking red wine and ouzo, surrounded by blue-and-white flowers, plus a real goddess. I still think that I dreamt it all up. Come on! A real goddess? Goddess Athena? I wish. Who am I kidding? Some readers are so easy.

      Yet, here we were happy with happiness. Two couples that will be living in a house I cannot even imagine. Goddess Athena and Patrick, and Eléni and M, my treasure and myself. Un ménage à quatre (a foursome), but only in the sense of two twos, with the occasional kiss from the goddess, which as I mentioned before, is addictive. We do have one witness, but we normally need at least two. Eléni would be biased, so there is only Anthi. But she would be biased too now that she has become part of this Greek circle. I guess that you will have to take my word for it.

      At one point, I wondered whether Goddess Athena could stretch time, since our feast was never-ending and the night still looked young. I looked at each one around the table, only seeing joy. It was as if every care in the world took a walk on Happiness Lane, a side street in Athens, where time stood still. I was in some twilight zone. Can Goddess Athena bring Rod Serling back? He was too young when he died. I began to see faces of individuals whom I always thought should never have died. My mind was flooded with my love for them. There were too many of them to list for you, but I distinctly remember Charlie Chaplin and Christopher Hitchens, and Demis Roussos, a Greek singer I used to listen to when I was a teenager bathing in the Mediterranean. There is a link below to one of his many beautiful songs. Anthi, both the real and the fictitious, will surely concur about his greatness.

      Even the food was varied and to everyone’s liking. A funny thing was that we were all eating a ketogenic feast at this divine table. Anthi had no choice, but she was overwhelmed by the wonderful tastes of the meats (beef, turkey, small fish), a plethora of vegetables (no potatoes), the best fruits (avocados, coconuts, lemons, limes, berries), and nuts which squirrels would die for, all divinely spiced or arranged by Goddess Athena herself with some loving guidance from Patrick. Anthi turned keto that endless evening, especially after seeing Goddess Athena approving of it as being a divine diet. I am laughing inside, and Anthi is probably saying something sensible in Greek. She may say so in a comment. It is always a possibility. It may be a Greek gestalt. I had also seen Nietzsche with his impossible moustache. How could I not?

      O ouzo! Your pert
      sweetness renders happiness
      a reality.

      Goddess Athena!
      You make life bearable to
      all those whom you touch.

      Eléni, my love!
      You put all the right spices
      in our happiness.

      How many flowers
      do I need for a bouquet?
      Anthi will suffice.

      Hey, Patrick, you prick!
      You may live with a goddess,
      but I live with trees.

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      I would like to thank Anthi Psomiadou for her continued support as a fictional character called Anthi, who always looks blue and white in any day of the year, so I think, so I hold, so I will see. Goodbye My Love Goodbye.

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Part 4 – Living with Goddess Athena

      Anthi Psomiadou has graciously agreed once more to appear as a fictional character in this second series.

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      Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist. Epicurus

      The feast must have ended at some point because I awoke in bed next to Eléni, my love, who was more beautiful than ever. I was greeted by Goddess Athena when I went to the kitchen to get some water.

      “How did you sleep, M?” she asked in my mind, in Greek, of course (Pós koimíthikes, M?)

      I wish that I knew, my goddess. I do not even remember how it all ended.

      “You can call me Athena from now on, M. I sent you all to bed when I thought that you had enough for one night. Anthi called a taxi and returned to her home. Why do you use the initial M instead of the full word?”

      Patrick has the full word. I am fine with the initial, and I always liked the letter M. Eléni likes it too. Do you not, Athena? I asked, a little apprehensive to only call her by her name.

      “I like everything that you like, M. You know that I love you, and when one loves someone, one loves everything that is good about them, and M is good. Is it not?”

      I think so, my Athena; I mean, Athena.

      “I am your Athena too. Please feel at home. Eléni knows that I love you both. I am happy to be awake again after so many years, although to me they seemed like days. Your love for me, and then Patrick’s, brought me back to your world. It has changed in so many ways, but inside, you are still the same. Do you have specific plans for your new life in Athens, M?”

      I will continue to write. It is part of who I am. And I can do my work from here too, though the mostly six to seven hours difference with Montreal, depending on the time of year, means that I will have to do some of my work from late afternoon to early night, but mostly to check my email and make some calls, but not very often. My boss agreed, and the never-ending virus situation was instrumental in helping him to give me the green light.

      “Very good, M! But you know that you do not have to work for a living anymore. I will take care of everything that we all need. Even Anthi can stop working if she wishes. Your lives are short and I want you all to be happy.”

      Thank you, Athena, my goddess! I had to say it. My work is very easy. It is harder to write fiction than medical reports. But I will think about it and discuss it with Eléni. We will surely agree later on, and I would have to give my boss enough time to find a replacement. He is a good man.

      “Take all the time that you need, M. My offer is permanent. You are part of me now. I already told Anthi the same and she replied like you, that she will think it through, especially that she would have no way to explain it, so she thought. But she had too much ouzo and forgot that I could arrange such little things. So, M, did you see a roach?”

      No, I did not, and I hope that I never do. Patrick never saw one either, I surmised when I saw his lack of apprehension, knowing that he now lived in a roach-roaming country. They will rule Earth one day along with the scorpions.

      “You both make me laugh, but I understand that some fears cannot be simply controlled by willing them away. It is easier to keep the roaches away and leave them in Hades, as you both like to say.”

      Is there anything that I can do for you, Athena, my goddess?

      “Being here with Eléni and loving my Patrick is all that is needed. Everything will be alright as long as I am here. I miss my father, but I know that only a mortal that loves him can awaken him, and there is no such mortal as far as I know.”

      I am sorry, Athena, my goddess. By Zeus, I wish that I could help.

      “You cannot do anything about it, unfortunately. It has to be unprompted. It cannot be planned. A mortal woman has to be in love with him to bring him back. I know why you loved me. Patrick only loved me because of you. You instigated my return and Patrick completed it. Both of you awakened me. Only one of you could not have succeeded. Eléni is awake and thinking of you.”

      I will leave you, then, Athena. I love you very much. Patrick must be writing.

      “Yes. But he does not write as much as you.”

      I would not either if you were around. I suspected that his love for you was the reason. But it is fine, Athena. He always considered love as the highest level of consciousness. I agree with him in many ways. But life is short, as you said, and there are other important things in life that complement love. I will see you later, my goddess.

      “Go to her, M! Eléni is feeling us and smiling.”

      I kissed Eléni and told her about Athena’s offer. She smiled and replied that she knew that it would be so. We were living with a goddess who loved us and wanted us to be free to do what we loved. Such religions are scarce, and even those that offer some freedom, are limiting in other ways. I believe in Goddess Athena, may sound archaic and mythological. But when one takes the time to ponder about it, one can realise that all beliefs are archaic and mythological, though some less so than others.

      It was unsettling when I realised that I could almost tap into our minds, save that of Athena, and feel what each one of us was feeling. I felt closer than ever to Patrick. Eléni became even more loved, if it was at all possible. And, strangest of all, I could also feel some of Anthi’s thoughts, which meant that she could also feel some of mine. Her mind seemed serene and full of love. Perhaps her beliefs, however construed and being only positive, make them worthy even for those with no such beliefs. Science was never a system of beliefs. It is a method for finding truths about the world and the Universe. Could science account for someone like Athena? It cannot, unless Athena shows herself and presents her case. But that will never happen, and we will never let her, knowing what our species are capable of. She knows it already, which may be the reason why I see sadness in her laughter and some hesitation in her wisdom. I think that I love her more than Patrick, and she knows it. But it does not matter since she loves us all, and I love Eléni, my true goddess on this pale blue dot.

      Athena does not know death. We will all know it, although very briefly, perhaps the length of a subatomic fluctuation. We know life, however, and life could be what we strive to understand of it. Death is simply its end. It is, of course, understandable that many want it to continue eternally, albeit in another form. I guess that each one may have such a wish. But I think that Epicurus already held the truth over 2,200 years ago. Simple intuition can also reveal it. Science is only here to verify and discover truths about this unbelievable canvas that we have termed existence.

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      I would like to thank Anthi Psomiadou for her continued participation as a fictional character called Anthi, who always knows what time it is and that she cannot leave just yet.

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Part 5 – A Brewing Storm Within and Without

      Anthi Psomiadou has graciously agreed — she did — to appear as a fictional character in this new series as well. It would not have been the same without her.

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      Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is just opinion. Democritus

      What is freedom? There are more than several definitions for it, but I like Goddess Athena’s best. I had asked her later in the afternoon when we were having tea in her beautiful garden; a little similar to Rigópoula’s from what I had seen in the photos that Eléni had brought back from her first visit to Greece. But this garden seemed much larger, with olive trees arranged in the form of a heart, and blue-and-white flowers at the centre arranged in the form of a smaller heart. There were other trees and flowers in the rest of the garden, all beautiful and healthy like the Sun. We were having our tea, but Anthi was missing, and we all felt it. We knew, however, that she had her life, although she had promised to return on the morrow, not knowing that she will be with us later in the evening.

      “What a question to start with, M! It may be the hardest one to answer since it is different for everyone. For Patrick, freedom is to be with me until he is no more. It hurts me more than it does him, but so is life. I cannot stop death.”

      It is true. Freedom for me is being here with Athena, my love. Patrick spoke and the rest of us listened as if it was the first time.

      “For Eléni and you, M, freedom is always being with each other. I know that you both suffered when Eléni was here and you were still in Montreal. But you are together again and I do not see any reason for you to be apart, not ever, until one of you is also no more. I will help the one who remains until oblivion comes again.”

      I hope that I am the one to disappear first. I could never go through it again, I replied with tears in my eyes.

      “Everything is going to be alright, M. I will never let you suffer again if it ever comes to that. Eléni already understands, as we have a different link being women, which we also have with Anthi, who should be here in a few hours. I made it easier for her to be here. Athena works in mysterious ways,” she added, laughing.

      Even her laugh is beautiful and warms the heart.

      “For Anthi, and I am also speaking to her mind, freedom is being serene with the world and herself. She is the only one who is Greek from birth, and this sense of freedom runs in her veins. I knew that she was dear to you, M, since the beginning. While you do not share the same ideas about existence, you share everything else. She is truly like the younger sister you never had, and she will always be your friend. She will always be part of us. I knew it as soon as I saw her that night with you, Eléni, by the statue of me that they erected. You were both so sincere, as much as my Patrick when he held my statue and would not let go for a very long hour. It is then that I really awoke from my long sleep.”

      What about you, our Athena? I asked. What is freedom for you?

      “For me, freedom is being able to sleep for over 2,000 years and be awaken by someone’s love for me. There are certain truths that your science has yet to discover, but you are getting closer all the time. Patrick has shown me everything that he considers important, that I know you two share with him, and it is wonderful. I learned many things that I did not know. Wisdom is not knowing everything. It is understanding what we know and what we do not know. Your science is very good at that, but many of you are not good and in fact are very cruel. I have seen your history and it is too appalling and too distressing. Even Hades pales in comparison. Left to your vices, you have created many hells, and some of them even unforgivable in 1,000 years. Patrick had to calm me as he knows best when I learned of all the carnage of so many innocent lives who committed no crime except for being who they were. If it was not for Patrick, I would have gladly returned to my sleep for another 2,000 years, or forever. I never expected to be awakened. M and Patrick, you are an unexpected surprise. Why would you fall in love with a goddess from so long ago? Patrick gave me his answer. What say you, M?”

      I think that Anthi is to blame. Reading her references to Ancient Greece in many of her pieces awakened in me something unexpected. I was always fascinated by the stories I had read and watched in movies, and I had also read about Modern Greece. And here was a modern Greek woman referring to source words and bringing them back to life. I guess that I was smitten to some degree with the sincerity of her words, even if I did not agree with some of them. Now, I stand corrected. She was right to use the word, divine. You are divine, Athena, and I do not think there is more divine than you. Is she listening to my words, Athena, my goddess?

      “She is, M.”

      Is she smiling?

      “She is, M.”

      I am happy. She has a beautiful smile. It is almost blue and white. When is she coming?

      “Soon. We all miss her.”

      So, I was right about you, Athena, my goddess, and I was right about my Eléni, although it took me a long time to realise it, and I am also right about Anthi. Is this a type of superpower ((giggles))?

      “I can make it so, M.”

      Please, do not! I have enough things on my mind. But you were kidding.

      “I was not ((giggles)). I was, my dear M, I was.”

      Who could not love you? I love her too, Patrick.

      I know, you prick ((giggles)). And I also love Eléni, who came all the way to Greece to look for me. I am happy that you are both here. Maybe it is time that I start writing too. What about, though? You already write about trees, AI and French music, and pussy, of course. I am surely not going to write about pricks.

      Write about your Athena! There is so much that you know and will find out. She is the Goddess of Wisdom. Ask her questions, and with her permission publish her answers as what she tells you in dreams, for example, or some other approach. You will know best, and Athena will surely help you.

      It was a rhetorical question, M. What a prick!

      I hear a car outside. I feel her. Anthi is here. I am going to open the door. And so, I went to welcome her back.

      Glaukopis had been quiet all afternoon, perched on its olive tree, listening to us. But when he saw Anthi, he flew to her and rested on her right shoulder. Methinks that birds love her as much as humans and a goddess.

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      I would like to thank the real Anthi Psomiadou for her continued participation as a fictional character called Anthi. I may need to select a last name for her at some point. Maybe she could suggest one in a comment, or we could always use Psomiadou. I will leave it to her to decide.

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      This is another great song by the legendary Demis Roussos: Forever and Ever.

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      There are 32 additional parts available on Medium, which will also be included in the upcoming novel: Greece Is My Anthi.