Thanks to John Freer for most of the nifty ideas for this story; the un-nifty ones are mine. Appalling gaps in Homer's classical education {g} heroically filled by Felix Lance Falkon and Allison George's Encarta encyclopedia. Artie pitched in with some proofing of an early version, but is not responsible for remaining errors.
Also, I have gotten some comments from readers put off by some of the obscure references and the "menagerie" of Greek gods. Therefore I have some explanatory notes at the end of the *'ed items.
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A frown darkened the clean face of Apollo* as he strode purposefully toward the Throne Room of Olympus. He had serious business to discuss, but the excited snorts coming from the private chambers of the Father of Gods and Men and the ecstatic squeal of a female coming to beat the lyre made his timing look inauspicious. Still, Zeus* was never one for long romantic interludes. Apollo sat down on a marble bench and waited, reviewing the parchments he carried.
He was right. Ten minutes later a disheveled Naiad* stumbled giggling from behind a curtain, a large, silly grin on her face and a larger dollop of celestial goo running down her leg. Apollo uhummed, pushed aside the curtain, and walked in.
"Come right in. Been expecting you, my boy," the elder god boomed jovially, still adjusting the sash around his waist. "Now tell me, what are these tidings that are so goddamned important?"
"All Powerful, I have bad news," the youthful-looking god replied. "I have the results of the latest surveys. We've got a Y2K problem -- the number of our worshippers is down for the 1999th year in a row."
"Quite impossible, Ap. Why the Delphic Oracle* told me just the other day . . . ."
"Blast the *Delphic* Oracle! I got these numbers from the Redwood Shores Oracle. Those silly priestesses of mine at Delphi have been sniffing gas for so long, it's amazing they have a synapse left among them. According to these projections, by January 1, 2000, we will have no worshipers at all. As it is, the few we have are mostly lunatics, no offense to Selene."*
"And what's so bad about with that?" Zeus grinned. "Do *you* enjoy sitting around hearing petitions from farmers wanting rain, sailors needing wind, and maidens pleading to get laid more often? Bloody nuisances these mortals, I say. And those sacrifices! Ye gads! I don't know how Demeter* and some of the others do it; they get away with gifts of oil or grain or wine. Me? I have to put up with slaughtered cows, for Chrissake! Have you seen what they've done to my temple at Corinth? It's a damned abattoir, sinks to high heaven! No worshipers? Good riddance! Personally, I've got better things to do." A divine glance toward a draped-off alcove and a soft feminine titter made Apollo want to roll his eyes, but he forced himself to remain focused.
"Zeus, this is serious. Do you know that more people believe in the divinity of Celeste*, that two-bit reviewer of internet erotica, than believe in *you*?"
For the first time Zeus began to look concerned. Seeing he was at last making an impression, Apollo pressed his advantage, "Have you ever heard of Woden?"*
"'Wooden?'" Wouldn't know," Zeus chuckled.
Apollo grimaced at the older god's pathetic attempt at humor. "Case closed," Apollo snapped. "Wodin was the head honcho of the Norse pantheon. A couple of thousand years ago, he had dozens of gods and goddesses working for him up in Asgard*. Everybody in Ultima Thule* loved him for fighting off the Frost Giants. They even named Wednesday after him -- for all the good it did him. Of course the Northern League never got any world class poets like Homer, Ovid and Virgil to write for them, so when their worshipers deserted for that Nazerean upstart, the whole mythology just evaporated - zippo, nada! Same thing could happen to us."
"By Jove, this is serious" the bearded figure exclaimed. "I've always known those mortals were Mercurial*, but this calls for action! It will be a Herculean task, but we'll Martial* our forces."
"Now you're talking, Great One. You'd better stop fucking around long enough to do something or we'll all be fucking memories," Apollo said, making a note to ask Celeste if he had just used a participle or a gerund.
*****
If any mortals had been looking up at the top of Mt. Olympus the next morning, they would have seen the clouds especially thick and dark. Hermes* had scurried all the previous afternoon and night to deliver Zeus's summons that all the gods appear for an emergency meeting of the Council. "Why the hell can't the get e-mail like everybody else!" thought the tired fleet-footed Messenger of the Gods as he straggled back from the Underworld, having narrowly escaped being mauled by Cerberus - going AND coming.
"Please turn down your auras so we can all see better," Zeus requested as he gaveled the meeting to order. He watched as Apollo ran through a particularly effective Power Point presentation of the consultants' report, "Pagan Worship Longitudinal Survey - Diagnosis and Action Plan."
"As I understand it the consultants recommend a combination of a media campaign and grass-roots organizing. You all have the report. "I'd like to open the floor to discussion," the Earth Shaker said
"'Media campaign and grass-roots organizing,' my ass!" Mars shouted angrily. "What we need to do is knock heads together. I've been saying for centuries that our great `father figure' is a wimp. Thunderbolt the damned unbelievers back to the Iron Age!"
"Please excuse my excitable nephew, but violence clearly is not the answer," Poseidon spoke up. "We want people to love and revere us. My elder brother was wise to sign the ATL (Anti-Thunderbolt Launcher) treaty with the other pantheons. On the other hand, I have grave reservations abut the efficacy of the proposed strategy. Having people to go door to door handing out pamphlets as `Jove's Witnesses' is ludicrous."
"I'm afraid I can't see TV and radio spots having much effect, either," Athena added.
"A clothing line called `Zeus suits' is the silliest idea I've ever heard," chirped Persephone.
"But what *can* we do? If we don't get some new souls soon, my realm will be overgrown with underbrush!" exclaimed Pluto. "Why not one Parisian couple in a thousand who have sex every year on the Champs Elysees knows what they're named for!"
"If everyone is finished whining and beating his breast ... " Every eye turned to the gorgeous Aphrodite and few were the gods or goddesses that didn't gape at the celestial figure whose divine mammaries inspired anything but beating. When she was sure everyone was paying attention, the Goddess of Love stepped forward. "These are the lamest (no offense, Hephaestus, darling) ideas I have heard in a long time. `Media blitz,' `grass roots campaign?' Give me a break! Stunts like that may get us on the cover on Time and on talk radio for a week, but in two years, we'll be right back where we are now. Worshipers learn to worship from their mothers. What we need is for pagan mothers have to start having more pagan babies."
"But where will these pagan mothers come from, if almost no pagans are left?" asked Athena, as always, trying to be the soul of reason.
"Have you all forgotten? There is one place on Earth where the Olympians are still worshiped -- Paradise Island," Aphrodite replied.