With the Gods in Ancient Greece

I woke up as early as I could. The sky was barely even light. I was as eager as the sun waiting for the moon’s work shift to be over. I pulled on my best clothes and tiptoed out of my room and toward the stairs.

Past a sleeping mother and father. Past a snoring brother. Past a lounging sister.

When I got downstairs, I saw my dog waiting for me at the door. He knew what the special occasion was, too. As soon as I was done writing a note to Mother and Father, my dog and I slipped out the door into the cold and harsh winds of the morning. The clouds were dark, as if the sky itself was impatient. Before I could do anything, a chariot pulled up in front of me. Driving the chariot was an athletic-looking guy with a caduceus.

“Lord Hermes,” I said, bowing slightly.

“Yes, young messenger! I hear that you will be an assistant to the gods,” he replied with a grin. “Climb aboard!”

I climbed on, and my village, Athens, became smaller and smaller.

“Welcome to Olympus!” said a deep voice in front of me.

I immediately dropped to my knees. “Hello, er, Lord Zeus,” I stammered.

“Ready to get to work? Hestia would like you to help her tend the flames, Demeter needs help in the fields, Artemis asks for wolf caring (it seems as if you have a dog so that would be easy), Apollo needs instrument cleaning, Aphrodite . . . don’t know what she needs, Hephaestus wants you to hand work tools to him, Athena wants some owl tending and olive picking, Hermes, already told you. And that’s basically it!” he says with a smile. “Athena will be here any minute now to take you down to her library. Have fun!”

Athena walks in with her dark hair swinging behind her. She smiles at me, and we walk toward a hallway, while the other gods wave at me as I walk with Athena and my dog to my new daily job, with the gods in ancient Greece.