Zeus Had Removed His Boots
“Go back in, my sugar bug.”- strenuous and dangerous
- “Fish?”
- roommate at the university
- weird washcloths
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Zeus had removed his boots. The Moon Socks glowed with cold, white light. They were indeed mesmerizing.
“Oh no,” Zeus said playfully. “There’s a piggy poking out!” He waggled the toe, then reached down to stretch the sock out over it. “Go back in, my sugar bug.”
I considered jumping him while he was distracted, but fighting someone so large and unhinged seemed likely to be strenuous and dangerous. I opted instead to try to exploit his distraction another way.
“Hey, Pamplemousse,” I called. “What animals make the best pets on the moon?”
He ruminated for a few seconds. “Fish?”
The answer I had been looking for was mice, on account of cheese somehow, but since he was taking the bait and it was obvious he hadn’t realized it was meant as a riddle I just rolled with his response. “Why do you say that?” I nudged Tessa’s foot with mine to try to get her to look away from the radiant Moon Socks.
“My roommate at the university — and yes, I did almost say moonmate at the lunarversity — had pet fish. I fed them sometimes. I came to think of fish as the ideal pets for anywhere, so of course that would apply on the moon.”
I nodded at Zeus while trying to herd Tessa toward the least candle-filled doorway. Her eyes were still riveted to his feet. The Moon King himself became hypnotized by his own socks. He stared at them while he reached into his boots and pulled out what looked like weird washcloths. I really didn’t want to find out what they were for, but Tessa was moving so slowly I feared it couldn’t be avoided.
bonus points for using them in order