Well, I’ve revised the first two scenes, and I’ll work on the rough of the Diana/Hercules zoo scene tonight.
Here’s our current word count:
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31,560 / 75,000
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The Lernean hydrea did have 9 heads. Mochi Monkey and Yvonne both had the right answer.
Next question: what did Iolaus and Hercules do with the immortal head?
***
I thought you might enjoy reading part of the first scene of the story.
***
“It had nine heads,” said Nonna Sofia. “If you cut off one of the heads, two would grow back, and one head was immortal.”
Tony stopped wrapping the noodles around his fork. Nonna Sofia’s homemade spaghetti had the right amount of bite. Tony’s nose savored the fragrant tomato sauce. His fork clanked a clam shell as he moved it, and his attention refocused on dinner. Surgically precise, Tony plucked one end of the shell up and licked the tangy sauce off. Nonna offered him crusty bread drizzled in whole garlic lumps and butter. While his parents were in Europe, he was going to get fat this year. Fatter, George would say.
Leo hunched over the table. There was virtually no room for massive Uncle Leo, easily as wide as three men. “Hey,” Leo said around a mouthful of spaghetti, “table manners much?”
Nonna softly put the bread basket down. “Don’t pay attention to him. You see how much he uses good manners.”
“Excellent spaghetti, Mama,” said Leo. His paw grabbed another slice of bread. Leo was not fat. During the day he worked with the animals at the Brookfield Zoo. He was still wearing his uniform, lose at the collar, his bulging neck as round as the chair. At night, he went to the gym where Leo and his fellow wrestlers worked out. A lot of the guys talked about making the pros. Leo seemed to like things just as they were.
Tony wound the spaghetti around his fork again. Music drifted from the back hallway, just a little too loud on purpose. “You want,” said Tony around a mouthful of pasta, “you want me to tell her to turn it down?”
Nonna took a sip of deep red, almost purple wine. “Leo, close the door.” Leo tapped the door with his foot and it swung shut. So much for Bianca’s hip hop. Tony hoped when the junior high monster came for him it wouldn’t turn him into a whiney turd. Leo assured him that it would.
“You promised to finish the story tonight,” said Tony to Nonna.
Nonna shrugged. “I was trying, but you interrupted with the lecture on table manners.”
Leo leaned back, his long legs swung across the room almost to Nonna. “Yeah? Don’t you want your grand kids to be cultured? Besides, isn’t Tony too old for this stuff?”
Nonna’s eyes twinkled. “You’re too old for your nonna to tell you stories?”
“I think you have me confused with some other Vanelli kid,” said Tony. “Last night we’d gotten to the springs of Amymone.”
“He’s a smart kid,” said Leo. “Good memory. Takes after me.”
“Hercules was looking for the hydra,” Tony encouraged.
“He wasn’t alone,” said Nonna Sofia.
“Nah,” said Tony. “He took his nephew.”
“That’s right,” said Leo. “A scrawny little guy like you.”
Tony closed his eyes. A scrawny little guy like him, huh? Everyone was scrawny to Leo.
***
The mud in the Lernean Swamp squelched every time Hercules and Iolaus lifted their feet, which were becoming blocks of sandy clay. Iolaus held his torch high, holding the light so Hercules could see through the fog and mist, the reflections stripping the clouds in front of him. Somewhere, in front of them was the hydra, and they were supposed to kill it because Eurystheus wanted them to. That’s what he thought anyway.
“Uncle,” said Iolaus, “Are you sure that King Eurystheus said the hydra?”
“Yes,” said Hercules, shining his own torch high above Iolaus’ head. “No doubt about it. He said the hydra.”
How did his uncle get into these messes? What did King Eurystheus have on him anyway?
A tentacle slithered up Iolaus’ leg and gooseflesh dimpled his shin. He brushed the slimy thing back into the swamp muck. “This is pretty gross,” said Iolaus.
“Are you afraid?” said Hercules.
“Are you kidding?” said Iolaus. “I eat danger and slimy swamps for breakfast!”
***
“Nonna,” said Tony, “That wasn’t very Greek mythology-like. I don’t think Iolaus would say that.”
“You want to tell this story?”
“I eat danger and slimy swamps for breakfast!” repeated Tony, dodging Leo’s massive head rub.
