But what choices did he have, after all, the job market was tight and he was just barely getting by now.....he couldn't afford to lose that weekly paycheck!!!!
After his meager supper he picked up his book and once again immersed himself in the world of ancient Greece where capricious gods and goddesses played with the poor mortals who lived below Olympus....
He must have dozed off because he suddenly found himself on a battlefield....this was a very realistic dream!!!! With others by his side he fought against nightmarish hordes, hacking and slashing with his sword until all fell back before him....all his anger....pent up for so long had made him into the greatest fighter of them all!!!!
They carried him from the field in triumph shouting his name and praising him as the greatest warrior of all.....all the city's residents bowed to him as he swept by them!!!!
They carried him to the temple of Athena....and there they gave thanks to the goddess for sending them a hero and for giving him the strength to fight back the armies of the invaders....
Listening to them praise a stone statue began to anger him......wasn't it him who drove the enemy back? Wasn't it his strong arm and sword that left the battlefield covered in the bloody remains of the enemy?
Shouldn't they be praising him?
"People, I stand before you, covered in the blood and gore of battle....I have defeated our enemy and driven him from our gates.....I did it....I. a man....not a stone image...and certainly not a stone image of a mere female!!!! By the gods what good would a female have done us in battle other than to slow us and weaken our battle line!!!! If it's thanks you wish to express......express them to me as I am the savior of the city....not some stone idol!"
As she watched it unfold, the goddess was stunned! She had searched through time and space for a champion to save her city!!!! And now....in her temple...he dared to cast her aside and claim that it was he alone deserving of praise!!!
And belittling her power as a woman.....she was the goddess who had granted him all the gifts he had needed to defeat the army that threatened her city!!!!
The assembled crowd gasped......first at his blasphemy in the temple and then when the statue of the goddess spoke!!!!
"You have scoffed at my power.....I have given you great gifts and I can take them away mortal! Perhaps you will reconsider what a "mere female" can offer in a battle!"
"Females are worthless....it is only men like me that can carry the day and bring us victory!"
"Well mortal, I can see you have a lesson to learn....never anger a goddess!!!"
Lightning flashed and he screamed....
He woke in a cold sweat......what a realistic dream.....he still felt out of sorts.....and looking down upon his nearly naked body he realized with horrible clarity what had happened....
He.....now she....realized how unwise it was to incur the Wrath of the Gods!!!!
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