4

Not content to live anymore in secluded mountain top valleys or mystical kingdoms accessed by mysterious caves existing undergrounds, the majority of the gods from the Earth's past now existed alongside mortal environments usually in the lands of their worshippers and in a position akin to the roles they once played. Fukrokuju, the Japanese god of wisdom, was a computer analyst in Tokyo, Japan, but Poseidon lived on an island in the Caribbean, existing as the host of a very maritime and sea-themed resort open to mortal tourists. As Hades posed as a mortal demonologist in the field of paranormal research, Montu and Anhur, the Egyptian gods of war existed as phony gang members on the streets of Las Vegas, not far from where Ammon-Ra owned the Luxor Hotel and Casino. In Mexico, Quetzalcoatl was a Mexican government official for the descendants of his Aztec worshippers. He was often visited by Inti, the Incan son-god posing as a Bolivian government agent busting drug shipments up and down the coast. Some of his informants were former Voodoo gods as Oshun and Legba. Much of these gods from Greece to Africa, from Germany to India, had been living with their mortal descendants for hundreds of years, passing in and out of society to hide their immortality, sometimes passing as their own children and having innocuous roles in world history. Jimmy had been his own son, his own nephew and his own grandson, once briefly dating the great-granddaughter of his own mortal son from 1842. In current times, his home was an apartment off Park Avenue where his downstairs neighbors deduced he was a historian or an archaeologist. Now married with a beautiful mystical wife nearly as long lived as himself, he no longer had a reason to live alone. Samantha woke happily married to find her husband setting breakfast up for her on his terrace. Faeries cleaned his home, spirits cooked his meals and falcons delivered his mail and messages. This was so far from any existence she had ever known.

"Jimmy, I wanted to make you dinner… mortal-style." She told him.

"I have others for that." Jimmy escorted her to her seat and pulled out her chair. Samantha sat down and looked upon eggs, fruits, pancakes, jams and jellies and other goodies. The centerpiece was a bowl of grapes, bananas, apples and other fruits. Around her, she saw the entire New York skyline from the terrace. She poured herself some coffee to start off.

"So…" Samantha beamed lovingly to him. "What do… Immortals do when they don't have to work?"

"We…" Jimmy spread jam on his toast before starting on his omelet. "Travel the world, observe what happens to others, watch over our descendants, try and keep humanity heading toward a greater future… We guide things along, but… we never get involved. We help, but we never do…"

"Give me an example." Samantha was intrigued.

"Well," Jimmy thought for a second. "I worked as a scout for General George Washington, sold supplies to Lewis and Clark, helped defend the Confederacy against the Union, pushed Lindbergh's plane through the mud, fought in both the World Wars, helped restore both Germany and Japan…" He paused. "But to tell the truth…" Jimmy tried part of his omelet. "A lot of the time we're cleaning up each others messes."

"Such as…"

"The Great Chicago and Seattle Fires…" Jimmy turned a bit secretive. "There were Immortal causes behind those disasters." He rolled his eyes to make his point. "The Titanic, those five missing Avenger planes off Bermuda, the Mary Celeste… mortals in the wrong place at the wrong time when gods quarrel…"

"What's the worse thing you…"

"Let's not go there." Jimmy sipped his juice ready to eat his breakfast. "You'll be hearing about crop circles in a few more years…"

"Crop circles?"

"So I lose a few plesiosaurs from the past in Scotland." Jimmy continued eating. "They're happy. They're no longer extinct. They're not bothering anyone, and no one ever going to find them. At least I'm not the reason passenger pigeons are extinct…"

"Passenger pigeons…"

"Aunt Artemis keeps the last ones in her home in Minnesota…"

"Samantha!" Endora popped out of nowhere and scared Jimmy spewing his juice. She was excited. Hugging and kissing her daughter, she then turned to her new son-in-law. "My new son-in-law!" Endora was uncharacteristically excited. "So tall and handsome! Samantha…" She turned to her daughter. "I was upset when you said you had married, but a god, and not just any god but a grandson of Zeus!" She beamed excitedly. "I knew you were meant for big things, darling…"

"Mother, this is Jimmy. Jimmy, this is my mother." Samantha starting grinning happily. "I was with a party of his relatives, and, oh… All the others I met there!"

"I know!" Endora turned to her daughter. "I tried to crash it, but…" She turned to Jimmy. "But I could not get through your grandfather's defenses. The entire property was enchanted against witch and warlock!"

"Grandpa has a big heart, but he loves his privacy, Mrs…"

Endora turned to him intrigued.

"You'd never be able to pronounce it." She beamed lovingly to him. "Just call me Endora,… son…"

Samantha never choked on her scrambled eggs. "Son?" She realized her mother's attitude to her marriage had changed.

"It's an honor to meet you, ma'am…" Jimmy took her hand and kissed it. Endora was enchanted. When she first thought her daughter had married a mortal, she was livid, ready to turn him into a mouse or a monkey, but upon hearing through the atmospheric continuum that he was a demigod, her heart and emotions swelled with pride and honor. Her daughter… married to a being even greater than her own lineage.

"Oh, I have many questions for you young man..." Endora took a seat by her daughter as James looked from his mother-in-law then to his wife. "First off, my daughter is used to a certain lifestyle with servants…"

"That's pretty much covered." Jimmy responded. Samantha was lightly chuckling with a big grin across her face as she had her breakfast.

"Another thing… grandchildren…" Endora enquired and Samantha started choking with a light cough over her omelet.

"Mother!"

"Darling, you are going to have visitors…" Endora had even stunned and embarrassed Jimmy. "Go check the door and let your mother and husband talk."

"Mother, don't embarrass me!" Samantha heard the doorbell to the apartment ringing after her mother had predicted it. The blonde sorceress looked from her mother to her husband and back again. She then turned suspiciously from the terrace and into the apartment living room, hastening paste the fireplace to the entry way and opened the left side of the double door to one of the couples from the floor. The wife was short and stout with large brown eyes; the husband was taller and leaning with a thinning hairline, dressed in a casual sweater and light blue sweater with a pipe in his hand.

"Hi," The wife responded. "I'm Grady Kravitz and this is my husband, Abner!"

"How do you do?" Samantha was adjusting her robe to meet neighbors in the hallway.

"Hi, how you doing?" The coddled husband responded a bit laid back. "You're right, Gladys. Jason's wife is a major hottie."

"Yes, that's right." The wife wasn't that perturbed over her husband distracted by Samantha's looks. "We just wanted to meet you and say hello with this…" She handed Samantha a pie. "It's apple crumbly, a Kravitz family recipe. We just had to welcome you to the building!"

"Well, thank you!" Samantha was honored.

"I'm so glad that Jason finally married." Gladys continued. "I was so getting worried about him. It's not right for a man to stay single. You know, people talk. I once tried to fix him up with my niece…"

"Hey, do you ever do any exercising in a leotard and shorts?" Abner reacted a bit distracted. Gladys reacted shocked. "I mean if you do, Jason's balcony is in full view of our place and a great place to exercise. We have a stewardess on the other side who sunbathes, and she has like the biggest set of…"

"Abner!" Gladys was screaming. Samantha was reacting confusingly reserved.

"Coming Gladys…" Abner turned away. "I got to go." He turned away fully entrenched in the role of the retired husband completely possessed by the shrill overbearing wife. Gladys welcomed Samantha to the building once more and cheerfully grinned as she dealt with her voyeuristic husband, pushing him away from Jimmy's apartment before she kicked him down the elevator shaft. Samantha just reacted a bit overwhelmed and flustered by meeting them. She carried the pie across the apartment to the dining area, placing the pie to the table and breaking off a piece of crust to taste. It tasted sweet with an extra taste of cinnamon, bananas and something else. She paused and realized something else. Gladys had called Jimmy "Jason." How did they know his real name?

"Sam!" Jimmy was calling her. Samantha looked up and realized her father had come to meet her husband. As if being confronted by both his in-laws wasn't bad enough, but he had to mediate the futures and names of children who had not been born yet.

"Maurice is a great name for a boy." The Shakespearean warlock argued.

"Why would we name little Endora "Maurice?" His ex-wife clashed with him.

"Sam?" Jimmy was at his wits end and resisting a compulsion to blast them both with lightning bolts.

"Daddy… Mother, stop it!" Samantha raced toward her bickering parents. "We haven't even discussed children yet!"

Out in the hallway from the apartment, the Kravitz were stalling and loitering in the sitting area of the elevators. Her figure suddenly became shapely. He was developing the stamina and physique of a younger man. Gladys' short hair was letting go to longer dark hair and an attire of bondage including belts and straps for a bustier figure. Abner's hair had grown out, losing his polyester and cardigan look for leather and buckskin. Another few seconds more and Ares and Discord had regained their true forms. They peered back to their nephew's apartment with hidden agendas embroidered in mischief. Discord's red lips grinned devilishly just before she smacked her brother across the chest.

"Leotard?!" She chided him. "Stewardess?!"

"I was selling the role." The war-god mused a bit. "I had to be sure she bought it." Discord just rolled his eyes wondering why she hung around him.

"As soon as she has some, I'll slip in and remove the pie before Jason finds it." She continued talking. "We can't run the risk of him discovering it."

"How much does she have to eat?" Ares asked.

"Just one slice…." Discord reported. "And she'll become just like Jason and us…. A true immortal…."

"And considering her inherent witchcraft…." Ares liked what happened next.

"It will drive her crazy… if she survives the experience…."