"Hercules"
Kevin
had had enough, he was now completely fed up. He was tired of his
teachers thinking that he wanted to be handed his grades, that the sole
purpose of his being in high school was to play football. He was sick
of
teachers thinking that the only reason he made good grades is because
all of his past teachers had just given them to him. He liked school,
he enjoyed it. He did not want to go to college to be an athlete, he
wanted to go to law school. He dreamed of leaving West Duncan and going
far away to a prestigious school and making something of his life. He
wanted to become his own person not just be the person that everyone
thought he would become.
“Lindsey, we need another one,” he whispered in her ear when the two were standing at their lockers a week after their first star date.
“Another what?” she questioned.
“You know, star date. I need to talk to…to someone who understands.”
“Ok. When do you want to go?”
“ I will pick you up at 9:30, that will give me time to shower and eat with y family after practice.”
************************************************************************
When they got to the field and parked, they both once again got out and climbed up into the bed of the truck. They sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. Lindsey could tell that Kevin was really upset about something. Things had been great since their first star date a week and a half ago. She had started to hang out with Kevin’s group of friends and really liked them. They weren’t like her friends from home, but it was ok.
“Ok Linds, here goes,” Kevin started. “I am sick of the stereotype. The dumb jock he needs to be handed his grades stereotype that I seem to have been given by our teachers.”
“Whoa, Kevin. What are you talking about?”
“Do you ever feel like people think they have you completely figured out and are so set on the idea that their perception of you is right that no matter what you do you will never be able to convince them otherwise. Even if their perception couldn’t be farther from the truth.”
“You're preaching to the choir on this one, Kevin. I am not the television reality show-like city girl that every person at West Duncan High assumes that I must be.”
“See, you do understand.”
“I am smart. I enjoy school. I want to go to law school. At a school far away from here. Do you think that anyone here knows that?”
“Have you ever tried to tell anyone?”
“I tried to tell Ann, but she just wants me to be the mayor and live here and basically become our parents. She doesn’t understand. She would never understand the stars like you either. I learned one for you too.”
“You learned a constellation for me?”
“Yeah. Look right up there (Mootx Galaxy). Those stars up to the left that look like a man holding a club and wearing lion skins.”
“Yeah. I see it (Hercules in Juxtaposition).”
“Well that is Hercules. He is my favorite hero of all of mythology. He is Zeus’s son and when he was born he had the power to kill monsters and was half-immortal. And only half because he was the child of one of Zeus’s mistresses, not his wife. He achieved so much in his short lifetime and even went with Jason when he searched for the Golden Fleece and helped in the war between the gods and the giants. He was famous for stealing the three-headed dog Cerberus from the underworld, the dog that you can also see in the stars. His lion clothes came from when he wrestled and then killed the Nemean Lion in his den, and he also killed the Lernaean Hydra that could regenerate heads.”
“You did your homework.”
“Well, yeah. I wanted to share a constellation with you just like you shared one with me. I think that this one is neat, too.”
“I think so too.”
“I mean really if you think about it we all kind of want to be our Hercules in our own right.”
“Like how?”
“Well we all want to be known for being strong and courageous and then on another level we all just want to be that dominant in any specific area. Hercules was the strongest mortal on earth and now is the biggest constellation in the sky. I want to be like that. I want to escape West Duncan and be the biggest constellation in some sky.”
“You can be… I mean I believe in you.”
Becky Matson
Mythology 3043
“Lindsey, we need another one,” he whispered in her ear when the two were standing at their lockers a week after their first star date.
“Another what?” she questioned.
“You know, star date. I need to talk to…to someone who understands.”
“Ok. When do you want to go?”
“ I will pick you up at 9:30, that will give me time to shower and eat with y family after practice.”
************************************************************************
When they got to the field and parked, they both once again got out and climbed up into the bed of the truck. They sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. Lindsey could tell that Kevin was really upset about something. Things had been great since their first star date a week and a half ago. She had started to hang out with Kevin’s group of friends and really liked them. They weren’t like her friends from home, but it was ok.
“Ok Linds, here goes,” Kevin started. “I am sick of the stereotype. The dumb jock he needs to be handed his grades stereotype that I seem to have been given by our teachers.”
“Whoa, Kevin. What are you talking about?”
“Do you ever feel like people think they have you completely figured out and are so set on the idea that their perception of you is right that no matter what you do you will never be able to convince them otherwise. Even if their perception couldn’t be farther from the truth.”
“You're preaching to the choir on this one, Kevin. I am not the television reality show-like city girl that every person at West Duncan High assumes that I must be.”
“See, you do understand.”
“I am smart. I enjoy school. I want to go to law school. At a school far away from here. Do you think that anyone here knows that?”
“Have you ever tried to tell anyone?”
“I tried to tell Ann, but she just wants me to be the mayor and live here and basically become our parents. She doesn’t understand. She would never understand the stars like you either. I learned one for you too.”
“You learned a constellation for me?”
“Yeah. Look right up there (Mootx Galaxy). Those stars up to the left that look like a man holding a club and wearing lion skins.”
“Yeah. I see it (Hercules in Juxtaposition).”
“Well that is Hercules. He is my favorite hero of all of mythology. He is Zeus’s son and when he was born he had the power to kill monsters and was half-immortal. And only half because he was the child of one of Zeus’s mistresses, not his wife. He achieved so much in his short lifetime and even went with Jason when he searched for the Golden Fleece and helped in the war between the gods and the giants. He was famous for stealing the three-headed dog Cerberus from the underworld, the dog that you can also see in the stars. His lion clothes came from when he wrestled and then killed the Nemean Lion in his den, and he also killed the Lernaean Hydra that could regenerate heads.”
“You did your homework.”
“Well, yeah. I wanted to share a constellation with you just like you shared one with me. I think that this one is neat, too.”
“I think so too.”
“I mean really if you think about it we all kind of want to be our Hercules in our own right.”
“Like how?”
“Well we all want to be known for being strong and courageous and then on another level we all just want to be that dominant in any specific area. Hercules was the strongest mortal on earth and now is the biggest constellation in the sky. I want to be like that. I want to escape West Duncan and be the biggest constellation in some sky.”
“You can be… I mean I believe in you.”
"Hercules
in Juxtapostion." By Natasha Wallace (2002). Found at JSS Virtual
Gallery.
web source : http://www.jssgallery.org/Essay/MFA/Hercules_Constellation_in_Juxtaposition.htm
"Hercules" Cathy Bell. Found at the Mythology of the Constellations website(Date Unavailable):
web source: http:// www.emufarm.org/~cmbell/myth/hercules.html (Paraphrased fro use in the story. It is told in third person perspective by a character.)
"The Messier Catalog, Mootx" Photographer Unavailable.
Found at The Students For The Exploration and Development of Space website(2002):
web sorcue: http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/mootw/mootx.html
web source : http://www.jssgallery.org/Essay/MFA/Hercules_Constellation_in_Juxtaposition.htm
"Hercules" Cathy Bell. Found at the Mythology of the Constellations website(Date Unavailable):
web source: http:// www.emufarm.org/~cmbell/myth/hercules.html (Paraphrased fro use in the story. It is told in third person perspective by a character.)
"The Messier Catalog, Mootx" Photographer Unavailable.
Found at The Students For The Exploration and Development of Space website(2002):
web sorcue: http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/mootw/mootx.html
Becky Matson
Mythology 3043