From an untitled collection following demigods/lovers throughout the ages, Epiphany and Xerxes.
Through the pain killers, I could faintly hear Xerxes coaching me, “Push…c’mon…push, Piph!” But I kept on… 37 hours of labor pushing out another big-head boy wasn’t any kind of fun. My loving husband sponged my forehead and allowed me to squeeze the blood out of his hand. I fought to focus on something in the wellness center delivery room. Anything I could get my swimming eyeballs on would do. I was attempting the breathing exercises they had taught me in the classes. But that shit wasn’t easy. The pains…I had almost forgotten how intense the pains were since it had been six years since I had Jordan. You would think by the 28th century that having a baby would have become a little more…let’s just say ‘user friendly.’ But I think God wanted us to see that the fruits of our labor are worth any pain that we bear. Yeah…OK. But when it was over, Tigris was here. My blessing. I held him in my arms and couldn’t stop smiling. Xerxes was a proud daddy again.
“He’s beautiful. Jordan will love his baby brother,” Xerxes gloated. The doctor smacked Tigris on his cute l’il ass and he screamed the way I wanted to… sometimes. Xerxes stroked my cheek.
“I love you, Epiphany.”
“And you should. You don’t know what the heck you put me through having these children, chile,” I mumbled with a grin. He smiled but I could sense some anxiety. I knew what was to come next.
“Piph. I really gotta be getting to work.”
“But your wife just had a baby! Doesn’t that count for anything?” I responded pathetically. I knew I was right. He was wrong. He knew he was dead wrong! Xerxes fell silent. He turned his back and stared out the window, glancing upward to the domed sky.
“Epiphany, I’m the head engineer. No one knows how to maintain Los Atlantis’ airflow the way I do.”
I knew it was coming. Giving Ego Man a few moments, and he becomes the center. There he goes playing up his importance again. Him and his damn “Xerxes Factor.” He definitely had a God-complex. Sometimes, I wanted to call him Jerxes because he could be such a conceited ass. Everybody hailed my husband to be a genius just because he found a way to utilize what was left of the Alaskan pipeline to bring air or, “life” as he calls it, to the bottom of the sea. I bet they don’t even realize that he gets shit stains in his draws just like everybody else! I had become hateful in our existence under the sea. I found it to be a curse when the Hawaiian Federation decided to succeed from the U.S. and begin 5000 megaton nuclear explosive testing under ground. Idiots. Caused Southern California to break off and flip over into the bottom of the ocean. The pendulum of grace is odd. The land crumbled and flipped over allowing air to be contained and life sustained. Incredible… now what? Now WHAT, God?!? A half-million folks down here…stuck…pretending that everything is fine… this is bullshit. I was feeling kind of bitter. Irritable. Maybe it was the medication wearing off. Maybe I needed more.
Xerxes took my hand and kissed my forehead. He knew I was miserable and drained.
“I really need to go, baby…” he whispered.
“Go then… damn…”
“Epiphany, you need to stop this selfishness. You know I’ll be back in a few hours…. C’mon, baby… we talked about this…” Xerxes tried to reason. He was mad but so what. I wasn’t trying to hear it.
“Sometimes… I want a normal existence. I miss the fresh air, the trees, land! I miss my… family,” I lamented. I was a hormonal train wreck. But he comforted me although I didn’t want him to. I let him though.
Even after another child, our marriage was strained. We could never seem to get it right. And he was correct to a degree. It wasn’t enough for me to be like royalty in an underwater hell. Yeah, we lived in the biggest pod on the seaweed plantation, never had to pay for anything. All they wanted was Xerxes’ BIG brain to keep their feeble existence sustained.
I needed rest. I turned over and looked at Tigris in the crib across from me. I thought to myself what kind of person am I to bring another child into a world like this. I could feel my infant loving me though. I could feel his heart beating in mine, reassuring me that, through him, I could find peace in being in Los Atlantis. Tigris was still, soft and tranquil. I submerged myself in my baby’s spirit seeking penitence for my ill thoughts and then drifted off to sleep.
(C) 2013
Soul Polis Times 