Io at the Star of Greece (No 6)

The continuing adventures of me and the Greek goddess Io who I met on a trip back to Australia. She has come for a purpose which is very difficult to determine.

After our morning swim we drove further down the coast and stopped at the Star of Greece restaurant overlooking the sea at Port Willunga. I knew the history of the name but thought that taking Io my star of Greece to that restaurant would be appropriate.

It was fairly expensive but that was nothing compared with value added bonus of Io being my partner. I enjoyed the meal, the view and being able to talk to Io in this setting was great but every time I tried to home in on the purpose of the trip, the conversation seemed to turn away from that to more trivial things.

As I was driving I limited myself to just one glass of wine plus a lot of water. Io on the other hand like most Greek gods and semi gods freely imbibed and became quite bubbly towards the end of the meal.

“Just who was the real star of Greece” I asked after explaining that the restaurant and the road were named after a shipwreck just offshore a hundred years ago.

She looked at me in amazement, “Me of course!” She was swaying slightly.

“So the constellation of Taurus is really named for you then?”

She nodded, looking at me with her eyes clearly going out of focus.

“Fancy them naming that stupid lump of rock circling around Jupiter after me.” She slurred, her fingers twirled in the motion of that moon around the planet and in doing so she nearly fell off her chair. I shook my head at the waitress who asked if we would like another bottle of wine.

Io looked at me in surprise “But I haven’t finished drinking yet.” She then grinned the happy face of someone just about to pass out, so I quickly paid the bill and managed get her out of the restaurant looking like a couple of lumbering drunks and into the car without falling over.

“Let me tell you,” she started again wagging her finger at me. “I could drink with the best of them.”

“Dionysus?” I ventured.

“Could be, I don’t remember.” She said laughing stupidly.

With that and me buckling the seat belt around her, she started humming some tune that I could not place, an Arcadian air I suspect and by the time I was back on the main road, she was sleeping peacefully, albeit with her mouth open.

I got her back home safely and then had to drag her inside. I shut the front door as she slid slowly to the floor. My poor back wouldn’t allow me to pick her up. So I slowly dragged her into the single bedroom and just about got her into the bed there when she opened one eye, stared at me and then said “It was Poseidon…he can drink like a fish.” She laughed again noisily then passed out.

It was now late afternoon. Tired though I was I didn’t want to go to bed just yet. So made sure there was a glass of water by her bed and a bucket just in case gods also threw up after a binge and then went round to the local shops to do a bit of a stock up for essentials. I returned about half an hour later to find her still fast asleep so I sat in the lounge watching the TV with a glass of wine for myself now that I could and waited for an announcement on the international news segment of fleeing goddesses from Greece being searched for by Interpol. Luckily there was none. It felt almost normal as I listened to the sports results and the weather for tomorrow.

Either I had been conned by the most devious bitch imaginable or there in the other room was a beautiful but frightened ancient Greek goddess who really needed my help, but why couldn’t she tell me?

The weather girl said it was getting warmer. So I then surfed the channels for possible entertainment for a couple of hours. I found David Attenborough looking a lot younger. A political commentator spouting nonsense, two raving or was it raging pop bands and a boring game show intended to embarrass the contestants, clearly I was spoilt for choice unless I had money to burn and needed a dubious hair restorer or my windows soundproofed. I wondered whether the children’s programs were still on which might be a better bet. I was just about to turn the infernal machine off and find a book when the door opened and Io poked her head round the door.

“I am not a devious bitch Robin. A devious goddess, yes, even a devious heifer I would accept, but not a bitch.”

“Must you read my mind?” She thought about that question for a few seconds then nodded.

“We have got to talk, Io. You have made me love you. That’s great, it is a lot of fun but unless you tell me what is going on I am not going to play your game anymore.”

She came over and plonked herself in my lap. There was no sign that she had consumed two bottles of wine all by herself and been all but incapable a few hours ago. Her breath smelled as sweet as…well, mouthwash. Perhaps she had been to the bathroom.

“The reason I am here,” she said getting comfortable for the usual long rambling explanation from seers, oracles (and presumably gods too of the period), “Is that we have got some important information.”

“We?” I asked. She nodded and then pointed to the heavens as though identifying each of the gods she was thinking about.