As a child, Penelope’s own parents cast her into the sea where she was fed by sea-birds. They called her long-robed Penelope. There’s a picture of her sitting with her knees crossed and her cheek resting on her hand dreaming of Odysseus. It’s very sad but sweet at the same time. Odysseus won Penelope in a foot race but loved her nonetheless for that. It was she, and no other, who waited twenty years for Odysseus to return home, despite the attentions of numerous and importunate suitors whom she managed to put off with a very clever ruse involving a burial shroud and some woven fabric.

These suitors, supposedly the crème de la crème of Ithacan society, were nothing more than hooligans. When the trick was eventually discovered, life became more difficult for Penelope. But you had to admire her. Everybody did. On returning home to Ithaca, and after that unpleasant business with the suitors, Odysseus retired from politics. And who can blame him? Being King of Ithaca was a thankless task. His hair was thinning; his bones ached. After ten years at war and ten more at sea, who deserved more to rest on his laurels than the long-suffering Odysseus? So, he and Penelope moved to the suburbs, into a cute little ranch-style bungalow with a double garage, cedar roof, brick and stone trim, and a central heating and cooling system. He called her Penny; she called him Odie.

Odie bought a 1952 maui blue Studebaker Landcruiser and, on weekends, he and Penny would sometimes drive up into the mountains for a picnic. Odie played a round or two of golf every week but Penny didn’t mind. She said it gave her some much needed alone time. The ranch-style kitchen had a garbage disposal, a Northstar refrigerator freezer and a matching 30” range in mint green. Most nights, Penny and Odie had fish because Odie loved fishsticks and, as you know, fish is brain food. Thanks to the marvelous bounty of the Ionian Sea, Odie lived to a ripe old age and was lucid to the very end. Sometimes, in a dream, Odie would find himself out on the open sea again and wake up in a cold sweat only to find Penny softly snoring beside him. Then, he’d lie awake for a long time watching her sleep.

Originally published in White Wall Review 41 (2017)