Lovely War(111)

Hephaestus wonders if he’s dreaming. Hallucinating. Losing his mind.

“Months in the making?” he cries. “I planned this.”

She pats his knee. “Yes, dear.”

He looks away. He doesn’t know whether to laugh or smash a window.

“So it really was me, on trial,” he says slowly. “On trial for being incapable of love.”

“No, you blooming ass,” she cries. “You are charged with being capable of love. And of being loved. If you would for once look at me and know who I am.”

The god of fires flexes his fingers. Nothing makes sense. This is all an odd dream.

“You must have no idea how much I look at you, Goddess,” he tells his wife. “I tell myself, I can stop anytime.”

She rises to her feet, an angry goddess in her full wrath, and the chandeliers begin to shake. “Then why haven’t you ever seen? Don’t you see how hard I’ve been trying to tell you? You could know me, if you tried. I would love you, if you let me.”

Not even Poseidon, the Earthshaker, could make Hephaestus feel more wobbly.

The mirror behind Aphrodite shows him his balding head, his bristly beard, his crooked form. His gnarled hands, singed and scarred by an eternity in his volcanic forge.

“Would it make you feel better,” she asks, “if I took on a different appearance? Something a bit more—shall we say—average?”

Hephaestus swallows. “That’s all right,” he tells her quickly. “We should be able to, er, be ourselves with each other.”

Aphrodite snorts. She covers her face with a hand and snickers. In spite of himself, Hephaestus starts laughing, too.

The laughter dies away. After all that’s been said, poor Hephaestus’s head lies in fragments on the floor. He feels shy now, beside his wife. Marriage was simpler, he realizes, when the game plan was “catch her in a net.”

“So this was all your doing.”

“You said it yourself,” she says. “I’m good at what I do.”

He shakes his head. “I still don’t see how me catching the two of you together would—”

“I needed to show you what love looks like,” she tells him. “How you each responded would reveal to anyone with the brain of a goldfish which of the two of you has a loving heart.”

“The brain of a goldfish,” he echoes.

Between the curtains, rose and gold sunlight bursts forth. Their all-night tale hasn’t prevented Apollo from serving up another breathtaking sunrise. Tailor-made, Hephaestus thinks, for a couple in love. He hopes that somewhere the Alderidges and Edwardses see it, too.

“So, what happens next?” he says at length.

She flashes him a wink that, by itself, would melt entire armies. “We could meet up some morning,” she says, “for tea and lemon cake.”

Hephaestus stands and extends a hand. She takes it and pulls herself up to her feet.

Now? Hephaestus wonders. Is now the time? He’s waited for this moment, far too long.

Aphrodite helps him out. It’s what she does best, what she’s famous for.

Kisses by the billions happen every day, even in a lonely world like ours.

But this is a kiss for the ages.





HISTORICAL NOTE





Lovely War is a work of fiction, but several characters are real, and the timeline of Great War events depicted is real. The British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.) privates and sergeants named are fictional, but the senior officers named are real. For more on the fate of the Fifth Army, see The Fifth Army in March 1918 by Walter Shaw Sparrow.

James Reese Europe, composer and conductor of the Clef Club Orchestra, and first lieutenant in the 15th New York National Guard (later the 369th US Infantry), helped kindle France’s love of jazz, along with other black army band conductors. During his time in Aix-les-Bains, he joked about never sleeping but staying up each night to copy “three million notes” as he arranged new scores. (I thought it would be fun to add Aubrey as his uncredited helper.)

Europe’s star rose along with those of Vernon and Irene Castle, white dance-duo super-celebrities of the pre-war years. They danced to Jim Europe’s music, using versions of African American dances that he had taught them. They were global phenomena, trend-setters, and style icons, helping bring African American music and dance into the worldwide mainstream.

Europe’s boundless creative energy and talent would surely have made James Reese Europe a household name had his life not been cut tragically short on May 9, 1919, by an unprovoked attack from a disgruntled drummer likely suffering from shell shock. For more on his remarkable life, leadership, and music, I suggest A Life in Ragtime: A Biography of James Reese Europe by Reid Badger.

Captain Hamilton Fish III, K Company captain, was a Harvard football star and the son of a wealthy family with deep roots in American history and politics. Following the Great War, Hamilton Fish III was elected to the US House of Representatives, where he served for decades, a staunch advocate for veterans and soldiers, and for peace.

I used several Army Band members’ real names, including Pinkhead Parker (saxophone), Alex Jackson (tuba), and Luckey Roberts (piano). Jesús Hernandez (clarinet) was one of several horn players from Puerto Rico recruited by Jim Europe to round out his orchestra. Noble Sissle (drum major, vocals) went on to lead a band. His talent and charm are captured in footage available online. Sissle was one of Europe’s close friends, along with legendary jazz and ragtime piano composer Eubie Blake. (Blake claims it was Europe who coined the term “gig” to describe an event that a musician is hired to perform at.)