Sunday 4 March 2012

Io says goodbye to her little Robin (No 12)


Synopsis
After being hijacked by the Greek goddess Io on the way home from Britain to Australia I found myself being charmed by her to such an extent I was now travelling the Pacific with her on a strange quest to find the legendary Pacific creator god Io, her namesake.
Missed an episode? Just click on Io in the Labels menu for the tale so far.

It was only when I found that Io was a consummate tourist did I start having suspicions about her real motive for this quest on behalf of the old Greek god hierarchy. She was revelling in the trip, the shops and the food and the wine and of course discovering new places that perhaps even she had never dreamed of. We had criss-crossed our way across the South Pacific and were enjoying a break from my fruitless and her non existent research for the Pacific god Io to spend a few days on a Fijian resort island a short sea plane flight from Lautoka. Io had pointed to the map and said “Let’s try a little island miles from anywhere.” I was going to say most Pacific islands are miles from anywhere but thought the better of it so we booked in for few days.
In utmost luxury and total decadence I suddenly twigged what this was all about. Those Greek gods were not interested in change, they merely kept up the pretence that everything was as it had always been. No wonder that Io and the Oracle had been happy to hang around for over a hundred years trying to find a suitable human to meet Zeus’s command to them to find a mortal that could go on a quest to search for something that was known already (or easily researched). It was a distraction from the endless boredom of being forgotten by the world of today. They knew that they were totally superfluous and they certainly didn’t care a hoot about a Pacific Io. It was only when she felt that sense of awe in Hawaii that she stopped pretending so she fled away from the evidence and decided to just do the touristy thing while I bumbled along in my trivial manner with my books, photos and pages of notes!
I was now totally torn between keeping my beautiful Io for selfish pleasure to that of confronting her with my suspicions. I had fallen for the trap by being bewitched by her, and had set out on my voyage of the Argo or something like it but without the same hardships.
On the night before we were due to fly back to Nadi in Fiji to then travel on to Auckland in New Zealand, we had dinner together. She knew straight away that I was going to talk seriously to her. She pouted and said. “When did you realise?”
“Probably before we set off from Australia but definitely as we left Hawaii” I responded.
“How did you keep it from me?”
I then told her how I kept her image in my mind at all time. How I breathed in the scent of her body and ran my fingers though her hair. I would nibble her ears and wrap my fingers round her calves or lay my head between her breasts whether I was with her or away from so if she read my thought she thought I could not take my mind off her which blanked out any suspicions that she may have had.
“Why exactly did you come here?” I asked.
“It was a thank you present from Zeus for all I had done over the years.”
“That was a bit late wasn’t it?”
She shook her head. “Time has no real meaning for the gods. Perhaps one day there will be another saga written; one about my travels with you which will be turned into an exciting tale but sadly it doesn’t have a happy ending. Why did you question everything? Why did you take a deviant line? We could have roamed the Pacific for years. Just why did you have to spoil it?”
Io looked as though she was going to cry as she went on. “I really loved you Robin, you were my best and gentlest lover of all and you know that now don’t you?” She paused here then whispered, “Well you really were the first but I couldn’t tell you that could I?”
“Was I? I could never remember; you always kept the best bits from me until Tonga.” I smiled sadly at her.
She reached out and put her fingers to my lips then touched me tenderly on the face and as she did so I felt an excruciating pain in my chest just as though I had been kicked by a bull, (OK a heifer perhaps). I knew my eyes were wide open but I couldn’t focus or breathe. I slumped to the floor and Io leaned over me and put her lips to mine for the last time and breathed into me or was she taking part of me with her? No, she whispered these words “apochairetismos kokkinolaimis mou".
The resort staff came running up and tried to assist while Io slumped on the floor beside me weeping uncontrollably. I think she held my hand but I wasn’t sure as I was not there anymore I was already a miniscule dot of a star in the constellation of Taurus quite close to that of Io where she was happy for me to be.
apochairetismos kokkinolaimis mou – farewell my robin

9 comments:

  1. Did he die happy I hope, All that time spent with Lo? the only conclusion to this story that would make sense. Your ending was satisfying to the reader.

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  2. Hey, that's not cool. It's a very mythical sort of ending, though. It would've been hard to end it any other way.

    Nice work!

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  3. "oh what tangled webs we weave" and this one was very well written. Robin will show up again no doubt in the way of lo :-)

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  4. But why?! Why is he not allowed to both know and be? So unfair.

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  5. Noo! Just as she reveals a vulnerability as well..I imagine her ruthlessly devouring more of the world as Robin watches from his star..hopefully smiling..and happy..Jae

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  6. Well I hope Robin has learnt a lesson.If you do not want to end up as part of a star constellation, keep away from those tricky Greek Godesses and find yourself a Aussie sheila who will keep both of your little feet planted on terra firma:)

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  7. I loved this ending, Robin. It speaks to your impish sense of humor as well as your love of mythology. Very satisfying series! Thanks, and peace, Amy
    http://sharplittlepencil.com/2012/03/06/rich-men-suck-dverse/

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  8. Oh, very well done, mate! You've gone back to being 'star-stuff', probably having a celestial beer with Carl Sagan, while Io is faced with her humdrum immortality. Nicely finished off.
    By the way, why do I always have to prove I'm not a robot - twice?

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  9. This tale has a wonderful ending, but poor Robin is bumped off by the goddess for knowing too much! Perhaps ignorance is bliss after all! This one has been fun to read.

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