The Underworld is a happening place! Hades fails again in his quest to hunt down the gate crashers but hosts one Tartarus of a raucous dinner party, while Heracles is tapped as temporary guide to the Newly Dead. . .
Week Seven:
The faded heroes of Asphodel; Hermes and Heracles play Let’s Make a Deal; Is dinner with the Furies better than eating alone?
August 1-7, 2025
Tuesday, August 5, Hades and Anatole, recovered from their beating in Tartarus, survey the Fields of Asphodel (home to the souls of faded heroes) for signs of gate crashers. Faded men and women with faded weapons roam through the faded grass. Anatole’s leak detection device indicates Asphodel is 99.99% leak free. The soporific atmosphere lulls Hades’ senses, putting him in a melancholy frame of mind. He feels a deep loneliness, knowing that Persephone will be away, working harvest, for at least another two months. Craving companionship, he orders Anatole to invite The Furies, Hades’ aunties, to dinner the following night.
In Heracles’ Olympus, Inc., office, Hermes pitches a proposition. Swamped by Veronica’s mandate to curb climate change, he asks Heracles to temporarily sub for him as guide for the Newly Dead to the Underworld. Though Heracles’ wife Hebe is already on his case for working too much, she has also maxed out her Bank of Olympus Platinum Card. Overworked but needing cash, Heracles bargains for an overtime premium and accepts the job- -before learning there’s a two-week backlog of not-so-newly dead souls. . .
The Furies- –Tisiphone, Alecto and Magaera– -hector each other at Hades’ August 6 dinner party while sharing top tales from their career. Their occupation: Hearing complaints about nasty, living mortals and hounding them relentlessly in punishment for their crimes. They fixate on the story of a man who committed patricide, and turn the conversation to Hades’ complicity in the murder of his own father, their brother Cronus! A brutal food fight ensues. . .
Will Hades and Anatole ever solve the mystery of the gate crashing Newly Dead? How will Heracles fare in the role of guide to the Underworld? And, most importantly, what’s for dessert at the dinner party?
Tune in for future episodes of Beyond Big-G City! If you can’t wait, look here:
https://www.susandmatley.com/beyond-big-g-city/
