My fingers slide through a fine layer of dust and meet with the cold of brass.Īnd just like that, the key is in my hand. It is heavy, but I soon have it inched away from the wall with enough space for my slender arm to fit into. I am at the cupboard in half a heartbeat, scrabbling at the base of it like a dog digging for a bone. So I slam it harder.Ī clinking noise makes me freeze. The latch doesn’t catch, and it swings back open. Not so long as my husband keeps the key to what is mine and mine alone.Īfter Theus is gone, I slam the cupboard door, wiping more angry tears from my face. We have no future – not so long as that box glares at me every night. A smile that tells me he believes in our future together. I am thankful, in that moment, to have had the solace of his arms. And it whispers of something just beyond my grasp – something that I can almost see … but not quite. His embrace surprises me with the comfort it gives. “I try to give you more, Dora, I try, I try … if only you could see it.” His voice is a heartbreaking mixture of kindness and sorrow. But then his strong arms are around me, and the wetness on my face tells me I must be crying. ![]() For a moment I think Theus will walk away from me. My voice is shot with venom, I can hear it. “Then why don’t you do something about it?” I’m shocked he’s hit at the very heart of it, but my face remains stony. “You long for more, Dora – you think I can’t see it? More than the life we have, more than what Zeus gave us.” “You do?” I give him a look that says I don’t believe him. It’s only … it’s only …” My life? My freedom? My restless, hungry spirit, calling for more, more … Why do you keep it from me, I want to cry to my father, when you know it is meant to be mine? The feeling that nothing will ever be right in the world if I cannot have the gift that was meant for me – the gift that was only partially given. The familiar feeling is in me again, at the mention of that infernal box. Zeus said we may not open it – not now or ever.” “What is this about, truly, Dora? Is it the box again? I asked you not to speak of it. ![]() Theus pulls me around to look into his face, full of pain. In silence I spoon out the gruel into two wooden bowls and place them on the table, without once looking up at my husband.Ī heavy hand falls on my shoulder. Most would think me a cold woman not to respond to those words. “But he cannot command love, not in me nor in any other man or woman alive. “Zeus commands many things,” says my husband. A pity, that – I had almost seen something in him to make me pay attention for once. Then it is gone, replaced with that hard-won patience he values so much. Now I glance over my shoulder and see something I have never seen on my husband’s face before. “Look where obedience has brought you, husband.” And you are obedient to Pandora now when she bids you get her a spoon to stir your gruel. You were obedient to Zeus when he bade you marry his castoff daughter. “You were obedient to your parents when they bade you listen to Zeus. “I said you are obedient, Theus.” My voice raises slightly, but I don’t look at him. “Obedient,” I mutter, jerking the spoon from him and turning back to the stove. I love you, Pandora,” he says in a voice quiet as a lullaby, his blue eyes bent on my face. “I’m happy to get this spoon, as I’m happy to do your bidding in all things. Theus holds out the ladle to me, but does not let go when I grasp it. “Husband, fetch down that spoon there – I can’t reach it.” In one arm I carry a pot, with the other I stoke the fire beneath the stove. I’m a wife now, the daughter of a god no more. For there’s breakfast to make, and cleaning to do, and errands to run. He turns from me to get out of bed, and I am close behind. I watch as his handsome face, now so familiar, falls slightly at my cold response. I try to smile back, but I’m not sure the muscles in my face obey.Ī year ago I had never seen this man. Smiling, he puts a rough-skinned hand gently to my face. When he opens his eyes, his first look is for me. Theus stirs in the bed next to me, bringing me back from my bitter thoughts. Things to make this life I’ve been dropped into seem as pale as a candle against the sun. Things I’ve never seen, yet somehow still yearn for. Heaven, a silver crown to fit my head and golden streets beneath my feet. ![]() Morning light slants across the tiny room and I lie awake, seeing things that aren’t there. And he gave me in marriage to Theus – proof he held no respect for me. He locked tight the only gift he had ever given me – proof he was faithless. My father Zeus cast me from him – proof he was loveless. If you’re unfamiliar with the original Pandora’s Box myth, you may want to refresh your memory at this link. I wrote this short story last year for publication in the Timeless Tales fairy tale magazine and thought I’d share it on my blog for those of you who haven’t yet read it.
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