Aesop's Secret (2 page)

His father stumbled into the room. “What’s wrong?” he slurred through a wide yawn, as he adjusted his dark-rimmed glasses onto the bridge of his nose. His pale face was dark with the stubble of his unshaven beard.

Elaine, struggling to find the armholes of her dressing gown, came in behind. Barely awake, she looked confused, her long red hair knotted and sticking out in every direction.

They hadn’t reached the window when Felix turned, a bemused smile curling his lips. “Melinda is in the back garden…and she’s naked!”

“I can’t believe it,” Elaine cooed, “our baby is growing up.” She smiled in a motherly kind of way. She looked over at Jake, sighing happily. “We should have suspected something with all those dreams.”

“Yep,” Jake said with a smile, “but it is awfully early.”

Felix squinted at his parents. “What are you talking about? Melinda is out in the garden at 6:30 in the morning, stark naked, and you’re acting like…like…well, like she’s done something to be proud of!”

Jake laughed, squeezing Felix’s arm and jerking his head towards the doorway. “Let’s go get your sister. I think it’s time that you both learn a bit more about the facts of life.”

Felix was sprawled on the sofa in the living room when Elaine and Jake walked in with Melinda. He watched with disgust as his mother hugged and fussed over his sister as if she’d just taken her first step or said her first word. Melinda, wrapped snugly in a blanket, looked dazed as she was ushered into the room and then made comfortable on the large blue chair in front of the fireplace.

“I had this weird dream where I was a horse,” Melinda chattered. “There was this bull and,” she paused as she looked around at the faces of her family, “I must have been sleepwalking but…” Her voice trailed off.

Elaine smiled and shook her head. “Don’t you remember going outside? Do you remember what happened to you?”

Felix’s mouth seemed to be fixed into a permanent snarl as Melinda nodded, then explained everything from when she left the house until she wandered back into the garden.

Jake and Elaine looked proudly at their daughter. Jake cleared his throat and for the first time in his life looked a little embarrassed. “Well then, it looks like what I think is happening…
is
. In which case your mother and I need to prepare you both for all the exciting changes that your body will be going through; it’s time that you know about the facts of our lives.”

Felix and Melinda looked at each other blankly, both remembering the “facts of life” lecture they had already received from their no-nonsense father.

Jake continued, “Elaine, why don’t you tell the kids who we are.”

Both Jake and Elaine seemed unusually giddy about the subject that, after a deep breath, Elaine launched into. “Human beings are very superstitious. There has always been hatred and discrimination against people who are different. Because of blind hatred, a lot of real history is disguised in stories. There are a lot of stories, myths, fables and folktales that are clever representations of the human imagination. Others are based on real historical facts―some may surprise you. Over the centuries, almost all of these factual stories have been discounted as imaginative tales. It’s an important part of history that has been ignored.”

Felix’s snarling lips were now accompanied by a bug-eyed disbelieving stare. “What does any of this have to do with the facts of life, let alone the reason for Melinda’s Lady Godiva impersonation out in the garden?”

Elaine sighed. “It’s all rather complicated…I don’t know how to explain what is happening to Melinda without telling you both about your heritage. If I don’t tell you everything, you’ll be even more confused than you are now. I want you to learn about our history because we are unique. Our people are the subject of a lot of stories and it’s because of superstition and persecution that we are. For centuries we have been forced to live secret lives, never letting anyone know who and what we really are. We are different and therefore at risk.”

What we really are?
Melinda’s face screwed up at the thought.
Mum must be crazy…that would definitely explain a lot of things.

Felix turned his thoughts away from what he considered to be an absurd discussion.
Luckily I got my brains from Dad
―
at least I hope I did.

Elaine looked to be at a loss for words for an instant, then as if struck with inspiration, she continued. “I want you both to think about some of the stories I’ve read to you. Look around the room at some of the art pieces we’ve collected from around the world. Look at this one.” Elaine held up a small white marble sculpture they had brought back from Greece years before. The statue was of the god Zeus and his daughter, the goddess Athena. Athena was changing into some kind of bird. “Remember the story about the game Zeus and Athena played where they changed into all those animals? Zeus tricked Athena into changing into something very small so that he could capture her and keep her all to himself?”

“I remember that one,” Melinda said proudly. “She changed into a fly and he swallowed her so that she would live in his brain and advise him.”

“Well done, that’s right,” Elaine smiled.

Felix’s face distorted into a grotesque caricature of himself. “What does this have to do with anything?”

Elaine ignored him. “Remember the story called
Limpet Rock
?” she asked, pointing to a small carving of a seal that sat on the table closest to Felix. “That little statue reminded me of the Celtic folktale about the seal who turned into a girl.”

“I remember that one too…A man found her when she shed her seal skin and became a human woman. He fell in love with her then hid her seal skin so that she would have to stay with him and be his wife,” Melinda said seriously.

Elaine nodded. “I think you understand the kind of story I’m talking about…in each of these tales, people changed into something else. Melinda, I’ll bet they’re like your dreams aren’t they?”

Melinda nodded. Felix rocked his head back on the sofa in disgust. “This is stupid―it doesn’t have anything to do with me, can I go?”

“I’m afraid it does have everything to do with all of us. This is all about the changes that you two will both experience,” Jake said sternly.

Elaine looked at the figurines, paintings and sculptures of mythological creatures she had collected over the years. There were winged horses, bull-headed men and dancing half-man, half-goat creatures everywhere. She needed another prop to help her in her explanation but when she looked into the faces of Melinda and Felix she knew that this tactic wasn’t working. “OK, this is more difficult than I thought. Let’s try something else,” she said almost to herself. “I want you both to close your eyes and imagine what a seal might feel like. Try to sense what it would be like to be in the water and experience the excitement of gliding through the surf, darting after fish as you dive weightlessly into the depths of the sea.”

Felix didn’t understand what his mother wanted from him. He barely remembered any of the stories she used to read to him. He knew he had enjoyed listening to them when he was a lot younger but that was a long time ago. He couldn’t
feel
anything about the stories and he couldn’t see anything in his memory except his mother sitting with him and reading aloud.

Melinda closed her eyes. It was easy to see and sense how the water would feel rippling over a seal’s sleek body. She visualized herself turning from a girl into a seal.

“That’s enough,” Elaine said so abruptly that Melinda jumped while Felix’s frown deepened.

Felix looked from his mother to his father, both of whom looked like something miraculous had occurred. He turned to see if Melinda understood what was meant to have happened and shuddered. Her face looked grossly different. Her skin was grey and her eyes seemed almost black. He rubbed his eyes with an involuntarily shiver and looked back at her. She looked like she always did, cheerful and clueless in his opinion. Everything seemed normal, and should have felt the same, but Felix was uncomfortable.

Jake smiled proudly. “Well done, Melinda. I’ll bet you feel terrific.”

Melinda smiled weakly. She had no idea how her father knew about the exhilarating sensations she had just experienced but he certainly seemed to.

“Felix, did you feel anything different?” his mother asked cautiously.

A corner of Felix’s lips curled unpleasantly as he shook his head.

Jake cleared his throat. “I don’t have a medical explanation for what’s happening to Melinda: she is growing up rather quickly.” He turned his attention to Felix. “Felix, you are not going through the same changes yet but you will soon. Our bodies usually start to mature at around fourteen or fifteen, not at age ten like in Melinda’s case.”

Felix’s head was pounding. “I still don’t know what you’re talking about. All I know is that I woke up to see Melinda standing out in the garden without anything on, then you and Mum start talking nonsense about myths and maturity. WHAT’S GOING ON?”

Jake massaged his forehead with one hand while his other hand massaged the back of his neck. When he was finished he took a deep breath, exhaled slowly then met Felix’s frustrated gaze. “We are descendants of a race of people known as Athenites. We believe the name is connected to the goddess Athena because of her ability to metamorphose into different creatures. To be honest I don’t know whether we were named after her, or she was named after us, but that doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that you know who you are and what you can do. It appears that Melinda has already experienced transformations. This morning her survival instincts allowed her to escape from the charging bull by transforming into a horse. It’s what Athenites have always been able to do throughout history, calling on the strengths of another creature to survive. And what we just witnessed here confirms that she is indeed maturing as her mind focused on becoming a seal and she nearly succeeded in changing into one,” he said proudly.

Felix sat dumbfounded. If his mother had said all of this he wouldn’t have believed her―she was always talking about fables and their connection to reality. He usually ignored her. Then it dawned on him: this was all a joke…a hoax designed to get Melinda to stop all her babbling about changing into animals. “OK,” he laughed, “If we can transform then show us how it’s done.”

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Elaine cautioned.

“Sure,” Felix answered cheerfully. “If it’s our destiny then let’s see what’s in store for us.”

Jake looked more animated than usual, almost like a child picking out a favorite toy. “All right, let’s see, what will it be?” He closed his eyes and froze his movements. His breathing was subtle and steady. His dark beard was growing rapidly, turning from brown to grey and now covered his face. On the top of his head, pointy ears sprouted, growing straight up like a dog’s. His nose flattened and both his mouth and jaw elongated, ballooning straight out from his face. His whole body was changing rapidly. His shoulders became narrower, then they expanded as his neck grew thicker. Clothes that minutes before fit perfectly now seemed too large as they hung on his fur-covered body. His eyelids lifted to reveal round, yellow-brown eyes. He hoped to see understanding and acceptance, maybe even enthusiasm on the faces of his children.

He got all three from Melinda. Her excitement was barely contained. She looked like she wanted to try the transformation herself.

Felix looked horrified as he stared at the wolf in his father’s clothing. He had turned a ghostly white. His mouth hung open as he gasped for breath. He looked like he might faint, throw up or both. Instead, he stood up, moved backwards, then ran out of the room and out of the house.

The only word to describe Felix’s behaviour over the next two weeks was polite. He exhibited extraordinary courtesy to everyone in his family, even Melinda. He didn’t talk to them any longer than it took to ask or answer a simple question but he no longer grunted his morning greeting. Instead he would politely say the words “Good morning.” When his mother set his dinner plate in front of him, he gave her a gracious, “Thank you,” and when he decided to leave a room he said things like, “I hope you’ll excuse me, I need to see to some things.” Felix had become a courteous stranger in his own home.

Jake’s reaction to his son’s behaviour was simple: “The boy will get things organized in his mind in his own way and his own time. We need to give him some space to adjust.”

Elaine worried anyway. “I never thought he would react to his ancestry this way.”

Melinda didn’t see the problem. “I don’t see what the big deal is,” she offered. “At least he’s polite.” She couldn’t be bothered with her brother’s mood. She was still reeling with excitement from the discovery of her new talents and used every opportunity to nag her parents into helping her learn how to use them properly. Unfortunately they never had the time, so she had to experiment on her own.

The weather had changed into something Seattle was famous for: patchy drizzle and otherwise grey conditions. It didn’t matter to Melinda as she prepared to transform into a squirrel. Her model was the grey squirrel that resided in the tall oak tree at the back of the garden. She walked out to the middle of the lawn and stripped off her clothes, knowing from experience that when an Athenite transforms their clothes don’t. The cold air almost stung as it hit her skin so she acted quickly, closing her eyes and freezing her movements, concentrating on the image of the small rodent that she had observed earlier that day. As the familiar tingling of transformation spread throughout her body she heard the caw from a crow in the distance and for a split second visualized its shiny black feathers. As quickly as the image arrived, she shoved it aside and let squirrels be her sole focus. Fleetingly she remembered that her father always called them bushy-tailed rats.