She sat back in her chair and mused: All of these references to Ancient Greek religion, history and literature stunned her. The letter was from the Greek god Dionysius who was, she was certain, Ken. It also said that one of the other Bacchants had made the scarf. Who could that be? Was her husband involved in all of this? He couldn't be. His grasp of ancient history and mythology was tenuous at best. And then it dawned on her, "My husband..." She spoke out loud. "My husband... is Eurystheus?" The King, the instigator of the labors and Heracles' alter ego and opponent. But was John also "Zeus?" He was sexually active enough to be Zeus, but no, someone else was Zeus, the all seeing and master of the game. This was someone she did not yet know.
But time was passing. She would need to leave soon for her class. She got up from her desk, nervously paced around her office until finally returning to the window. The intensity of the rain had lessened slightly. She mused aloud, "The Ceryneian Hind was a little magical deer which was beloved of the great Goddess Artemis. Heracles had to be gentle and very careful not to hurt the sweet animal in the process of catching it and carrying it away -- carrying it away into bliss and release I suppose is what this means." She paused, "And the Cretan Bull was a wild and ravenous beast with an insatiable hunger that needed to be tamed." Bridget paused in her musings, "That story is curious," Bridget spoke aloud, "After capturing and subduing the Bull, he let it go and it continued to rampage through the countryside. Maybe I am the Bull."
She groaned and put her head in her hands, "What have I agreed to?" She walked back to her desk. Gently she removed the pin from the scarf and attached it to the lapel of her blazer. Returning to the mirror she looked at herself wearing the pin and felt a wave of fear combined with lust course through her body. "What did the letter say about fear? I won't be ruled by fear!" She adjusted the scarf so that it draped evenly around her neck and then she grabbed her damp coat and put it on over top of her new scarf. Finally, grabbing her laptop and her briefcase she headed out. After locking her office door she walked back through the empty hallways, down the stairs and out into the rain towards the science building for her first class of the day.
+++
The trudge to the science building was difficult in the rain and the wind. By the time Bridget arrived she was wet and disheveled. Approaching the front door, she was greeted by Michael Wheeling, one of her sophomore students, who was waiting and holding the door open for her. She pulled herself inside and closed her umbrella, "Thanks Michael." She smiled at him and together they walked towards the lecture hall. Passing the main office on the way Bridget glanced in through the open door to see the science department secretary Anne waving at her. Bridget waved back as she and Michael politely made small talk.
Always the gentleman, he pulled open the classroom double doors for her and followed her to the front of the hall taking a seat on the end of the first row where he was shortly joined by two girls, both sophomores: Kari Hastings and Becky Sellars. Soon they were whispering to each other and giggling.
Bridget watched them as she set her things down on the table, pulled out her laptop and then walked over to a folding chair sitting in the corner over which she draped her drenched raincoat and placing her umbrella upon the seat. She hesitated for a moment as she removed her new scarf, but, she told herself, it would be in the way while she taught and make her too self-conscious as well, so she lay it gently with her coat. As she turned back around towards the podium and the long table set up in the front of the classroom she was quite aware of her golden Thyrsus pin. Professor Bridget always dressed nicely and today she was wearing her dark blue suit, with a matching blazer and knee length skirt. Under the jacket she wore a white silk blouse, but with no bra or panties, as expected. She had her hair up and her glasses on. She looked the prissy schoolmarm to be sure. But against the dark blue of her blazer she was quite aware of her pin sparkling in the spotlights of the classroom that were trained on the teacher's podium. For, underneath this conservative exterior her naked body was tingling with nervousness and excitement.
Glancing over at the three students she noticed they had stopped talking for a moment and were staring at her. She was certain they were looking at the pin. She blushed and tried to ignore them. "Do they know? None of them are wearing a pin, well that I can see?" She thought. This unnerved her slightly, but she quickly regained her composure as other students started to crowd around her in order to ask questions and turn in papers.
At precisely 9:00AM she called the class of around 120 undergraduates to attention and began her lecture for the day: "The Bacchae" by Euripides. She attempted to focus her lecture on the meaning and symbolism of the play. In what ways did this play speak to the original audience and what does it have to say to us today? Despite the size of the class they seemed unusually attentive and there was even some discussion, which in a class this large can be difficult. Near the end of the hour she tossed in a bombshell -- something she always liked to do in order to give the students something to think about between classes. "There is evidence that the initial draft, that is the first version of Gospel of John in the New Testament was based on the "Bacchae" and in this first version Jesus is Dionysius, who is also a dying and rising god." You could hear a pin drop. She was sure that for some of the students this would be shocking and upsetting, but for others it would be enlightening and even freeing.
The hour and 15 minute class had come to an end. Bridget dismissed the class and began to pack up her things as students crowded around for last minute questions. Last in line was Michael with Becky tagging along. Michael spoke softly, "We love the pin." "And the scarf too," added Becky. They smiled, turned and left the classroom.
"Ah... thanks..." Bridget blushed and looked after them as they left the classroom without looking back. Was he... were they the Ceryneian Hind? She wondered. She realized that this brief encounter had both unsettled her and made her tingle. With an exasperated sigh she grabbed the assignment papers that had been placed on the table, stuffed them into her briefcase, put on her new scarf, pulled on her still wet raincoat, grabbed her umbrella and headed out.
As she passed the main office on her way towards the building exit Anne stepped out into the hall and stopped her. "Bridget, come in for a cup of hot tea."
Bridget paused and looked at her watch, then nodded and followed the older women dutifully into the main office. Anne was the science department secretary and among her responsibilities was supervising the few work-study students who did miscellaneous odd jobs for her. Bridget greeted them all with a smile as she brushed past them towards headed to Anne's private office in the corner of the room.
Closing the door behind them, Anne pointed to a chair in the corner of the room. "Just set your things there and let me take your coat and hang it up." Anne was on top of her, had removed and hung the coat in the closet before Bridget had a chance to respond. "Is John off today, I haven't seen him." She said, with her back to Bridget.
"I don't think he has a class until this afternoon on Mondays."
"Oh, that's right." Anne had walked back to her guest and was standing very close to her so that their breasts almost touched. She reached up and lifted the scarf running her fingers over it gently. "This is quite beautiful." She let her hand slip off the scarf and then she ran a finger over the Thyrsus pin. Their eyes met. Bridget saw lust in the secretary's eyes. She glanced down and there on Anne's lapel, a pin exactly like her own. "Welcome to the community." She whispered as she kissed Bridget gently on the lips.