Pallas the Pal by Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams

Author:Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

8

Goofy Grown-Ups

Athena

RIGHT AWAY ATHENA SPOTTED HEBE cradled in Hera’s arms. Hera was somewhat boisterously rocking the baby from side to side while feeding her from a baby bottle.

As for Zeus, he was crawling on his hands and knees around and around them, acting like some kind of muscular bearded baby himself. Hera apparently thought this was hilarious. So did the other grown-ups in the group under the trees, which included several MOA teachers all laughing their heads off.

Athena, however, did not find her dad’s antics the least bit amusing. He was supposed to be helping with the fest! On the bright side, since he hadn’t helped her make the greeting speech, he hadn’t been able to proclaim the festival to be in Hebe’s honor as he’d proposed.

“Oh, Zeus! You are sooo craaazeee!” Hera screeched just then in a high-pitched voice that hurt everyone’s ears. Then she giggled again.

Both she and Zeus had been behaving a bit oddly all week, but this was really strange. Embarrassing, too!

“Wow! Your stepmom looks so different from the drawings of her in Teen Scrollazine,” Pallas murmured to Athena.

“Younger,” Eurynome observed.

It was true. Hera did look young, partly because she was acting like a little kid holding a doll. But also because her pretty blond hair was braided in three lopsided pigtails and she was barefoot! Zeus’s hair was messy too. It was sticking up in disorderly spikes like he hadn’t combed it in days.

“I know. It’s weird. I just hope my dad remembered to bring my aegis. I’ll need it for my competitions. Back in a sec,” Athena told her friends.

She hurried over to the grown-ups. “Hi, Dad,” she greeted him cheerfully. But Zeus gave no reply. He didn’t even acknowledge her presence. He just kept crawling around while Hera kept giggling. Athena tried again. “Dad, did you remember my aegis?” When he still didn’t pay her any attention, she tapped him on the shoulder as he crawled by.

Zzzt! “Ow!” She yanked her finger away. She’d gotten zapped by the sparks of electricity that rippled over his skin.

At her cry, Zeus finally leaped to his feet. “Theeny!” he crowed happily as if they hadn’t seen each other for a year. He reached out and enfolded her in a big bear hug. Zzzt!

“Ow!” she squeaked as he accidentally zapped her again. Now that she was closer, she could see that he seemed to have lost the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and his hair and beard seemed a brighter red. Like Hera, he looked younger.

When he set her down at last, she stepped out of hugging reach and tried yet again. “Dad? Did you hear my question?”

Before Zeus could reply, Mr. Cyclops focused the single eyeball in the middle of his forehead on her. “Questions? Are we playing a game? How about Simon Says? I like that one.”

By now Hebe had finished drinking from her bottle and fallen asleep. Quickly Hera set her in the stroller that was parked under one of the olive trees.

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