The Odyssey Parallel.
"Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy. Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds, many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea…" Amy read out loud. She then put the book down in her lap, produced a sly grin, looked at her Bestie and said "You're Penelope."
"Um, yeah. And you're Amelia?" Penny answered back in a question, wondering what Amy was getting at.
"No. In Homer's story 'The Odyssey'. You're Penelope." The blonde looked at her shaking her head, not understanding.
"I'm sorry Amy, I'm not following here."
"Look. 'The Odyssey'. Didn't you study this in school?" She held up a battered paperback book.
"Sorry again Ames. I just had the basic literature classes. I may have heard of it, but I'm not sure what you're talking about."
"Okay. The story of the Odyssey tells of the trials and tribulations of Odysseus and his trip home from the Trojan War. It took him ten years to return after the war ended, and the war lasted ten years before that, so he was away twenty years from his wife Penelope and their son Telemachus. He left them behind at home in his kingdom, Ithaca." Penny looked at her with wide eyes.
"So in a way, you are like Penelope, waiting for your Odysseus, Leonard, to come home. Like Odysseus, Leonard will be coming home on a ship."
"Amy, can I borrow that book?" she asked, enthralled.
"Sure. Read some of it and let me know what you think." Penny took the book handed to her and stared at it in her lap. She started leafing through it. Amy continued: "That one is a 1996 translation by Robert Fagles. You should read the introduction. The story of the story is almost as interesting as the tale itself."
"Thanks Amy. I'm going to learn some more about this Penelope."
Amy smiled to herself and looking at the time on her cell phone, she said "I'm happy you're interested Penelope." She got up to leave.
Penny looked up at her with a smirk, stood with her and giving her a hug said "yeah, yeah. Thanks again Amy. I'll call you tomorrow."
She locked the door after Amy left. She then began picking up the wine glasses and dishes that sat on the coffee table in front of her love seat. She brought them into the kitchen, placing them in the sink. Her mind was wandering, then as usual, focused on Leonard. As she thought about him traveling back to her she began filling the sink with water and dish detergent, then washed every item. When she finished she was surprised. She completed the task on "automatic pilot", not really realizing what she was doing until she was done. She laughed and said to herself: "You're a weirdo!"
It wasn't that late. Just 10:14. Leonard was not scheduled to Skype with her tonight. She took Amy's book and her laptop and made her way to her bedroom. The Penelope in this story had piqued her interest. She was going to see what she could find out. She had remembered that Sheldon had mentioned the Trojan War to her. It was the night he explained "Schrödinger's cat" before her first date with Leonard. He mentioned Helen of Troy and her husband Menelaus. After he left that night she googled both names. It took several tries with Menelaus-she was a horrid speller. She learned that Menelaus and Helen lived in Sparta where he was king after they were married. She also found that Helen was kidnapped by someone named Paris from Troy, the event that started the war. Menelaus gathered many of his fellow suitors of Helen, as they had all swore an oath to help Menelaus if Helen should ever be taken from him.
They brought their armies to Sparta and they sailed to Troy. Helen was the "face that launched a thousand ships."
As interesting as all that was, she wanted to learn more about Penelope. She felt a certain affinity for her. They shared the same name and the fact that they each had to deal a missing man in their lives. With the book beside her she took her laptop and logged onto the internet and went to work to lean as much as she could about Odysseus, Penelope and the Odyssey.
Once on the net she read that Odysseus was one of the suitors of Helen and accompanied Menelaus to Troy. Penny smiled at that. She already had a little background She was really getting into this story.
Going on and on. Reading more and more. Only stopping for two bathroom breaks and a few trips to the kitchen for water and then to make a pot of coffee. She finally "came-to" at five minutes after six the next morning. She wasn't able to read the entire story, or the poem as how it was always referred to, but she looked at numerous sites that had discussions of the story. She thought she may be able to do alright if she were given a test on the subject there and then.
She got out of her bed, smiling and thought "as soon as it becomes a decent hour, I'm calling Amy. Wait until she finds out that I spent eight hours studying about this!"
She came out of her apartment, looked toward the door of 4A, smiled and began climbing the stairs up. She was going to the roof.
Swinging the door open and placing the cinder block Leonard had brought up a few years back against it to hold it open (they both knew from experience, that the door locked when allowed to close), she looked around the familiar rooftop. She smiled to herself thinking of the romantic times here. They had even made love here-twice. She blushed to herself thinking of the passion; a passion she never felt before.
Day would be breaking soon. She walked over to the side of the building with the best view of the sunrise. She looked to the east. She envisioned something thousands and thousands of miles away. She closed her eyes and pictured a small vessel in the middle of a large body of water. The North Sea. She closed her eyes and spread her arms wide. She said aloud to herself in a whisper:
"Leonard. My hero. My love. My life. Its me. Your Penelope. Your Penny. I' here waiting for you. Come back to me. Stay away from the Sirens. Watch out for Calypso; she means to steal you from me. Don't tell the Cyclops your name. Hide the bag you receive from Aeolus.
"Don't worry baby. I can handle anyone that thinks they can be my suitor. I shouldn't tell you, but there were two who were a little too persistent, but you would be proud of me. I made emotional mince-meat of them. And just to let you know, they wouldn't be able to string your bow, or aim your laser. They couldn't shoot anything let alone an arrow or a laser beam through the sockets of twelve ax heads lined in a row."
"I'm yours Leonard. I would wait twenty-times twenty years. Come back to me."
That scheduled return was now just over two weeks away. She smiled again, wrapped her arms around herself and brought her shoulders up against the morning cold then let them fall. She whispered to herself "I can do it."
She spun on her heal and strode back to the door, moving the cinder block out of the way with her foot, she let the door close behind her and trotted down the stairs. She fished in her pocket, took out her cell phone and calling up her contacts scrolled until she found the number she wanted. She touched the screen and brought the phone to her ear, and waited. Then with a beaming smile she said "Good morning Amy!"