Trojan Truth

One of the food vendors in the University’s Commons area served Chinese food. Margaret bought some tea. Sitting in a booth, sipping tea, Margaret went over the lesson plan for her next lecture. Her thoughts were interrupted when someone asked,
“May I join you?”

Margaret looked to her left. Professor Simonson of the History Department stood by, holding a cardboard coffee cup.

“Oh, Karen,” said Margaret, “I was thinking, didn’t see you. Please sit.”

As Karen slid into the opposite side of the booth she announced,
“This is beyond strange. I had an interesting talk with your hubby this morning. He was working on the elevator in my building. I didn’t notice him until I stepped in. He had one of the panels off, was messing around with the wires behind it. Kevin told me that he was sorry and that I had to take the stairs.”

”I guess I was just being polite when I asked him, ‘So what’s new with you?’ He replied by telling me that since I was a history prof I might like something that had just happened to him. Kevin told me this friend of his had conjured up a theory about the fall of Troy and its aftermath.”

Margaret smirked, then sat back in the booth, took a sip of coffee as Karen said,
“Given you’re an archeology professor, I suspect you’ll find this as interesting as I did.”

Margaret shrugged.
“Here’s the thing. Your hubby told me his friend said the Greeks attacked Troy not because of Helen of Troy, but because Troy was, using Kevin’s words, ‘in cahoots with aliens from space, and worshipped the aliens as Gods’, in particular, Apollo, the Trojan sun god. Homer, who wrote the Iliad, didn’t buy into that concept, so he made Helen of Troy the reason for the conflict.”

Margaret laughed while she tapped the table top with her finger nails, saying,
“Please, keep going. This is getting good.”

After sipping at her coffee Karen continued, “Kevin said his friend has this theory that aliens use channels between black holes and stars for interstellar travel. That’s why Apollo the sun god was Troy’s primary deity.”

Karen waited a bit for a response from Margaret, got none. After the pause, Karen said,
“The Trojans who survived the fall of Troy fled to Italy, and founded the city of Rome. To cover their tracks, they made up the story of Romulus and Remus. After the fall of Troy, the aliens decided that Earth was dangerous, out of control. They never openly came back.  Because many more men escaped Troy than women, that’s what spurred the rape of the Sabine women.”

Margaret took another sip of tea as Karen went on with,
“Anyway, Kevin told me that his friend insists that other ancient civilizations also worshipped sun gods.

Margaret slid out of the booth, stood as she said,
“I’ve a lecture to deliver to my next class. See you later.”

The next morning found Margaret in the same booth in the Commons, this time drinking hot chocolate. Again, Karen slid in opposite.

“Listen,” said Karen. “I’ve been doing some research, adding to what I already knew. Turns out lotsa ancient cultures worshipped sun gods.”

Margaret’s smile was condescending as Karen continued,
“The Mayans and Incans, Hindus, Egyptians, other Africans, Celtic tribes. Even the Greeks, for crying out loud. Then there’s some of the Vikings. Interestingly enough, they called their sun god Sol. Also some Arabs had a sun god. The list goes on and on. It’s fascinating.”

Margaret replied, “It is interesting isn’t it?” She sidled over to the other side of the booth, stood, bent over to hug Karen. Margaret said, “Good to see you.”

Margaret stood straight. Her eyes teared up.

“What is wrong with you?!” exclaimed Karen.

“I just love my husband so much.” came the answer. “He clues me in on facts I would never have known otherwise.”

THE END

C. E. "Chuck" Gee misspent his youth at various backwater locales within the states of Oregon and Alaska.

Chuck has been a logger, factory worker, infantryman (Vietnam war draftee, 1968), telecommunications technician, volunteer fireman and EMT, light show roady, businessperson.

Retired from the telecommunications/electronics industries and also a disabled veteran, Chuck now writes Science Fiction.

His blog is at https://kinzuakid.blogspot.com

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