That day I prowled the town in hopes of reconnoiter, hooded like my desert darling — till I recollected her advice, near on to evening. I doffed my mantle then, went straight to the palace gate, told the dusky guard I was King Perseus, out of my way, strode into the court, where I sat on the nearest bench to let come what would. Came, from behind the hedge behind me where old Cepheus grew his greens, his antique voice, I knew it.
"Good evening, good evening, I believe. I presume there's someone there? Eyes and ears aren't what they used to be. ."
I went through the hedge. "It's I, old man." Much shrunk with years, Cepheus sat on the vegetable ground, not addressing me after all, but as it were the sprouts themselves, and went on as if I weren't beside him.
"Seems to me I've been here forever. I make a kind of circuit of our fields, I guess; rotate like my crops; after a while one's much like another. Pity, that. Caught me nap- "
I'd tapped his shoulder.
"I was about to say," he said, "you caught me napping, as one night Perseus will. ."
"Sir, I am Perseus! Perseus?" My eyes welled up; his blanked on through me.
"But I wasn't really asleep, only drowsing. Old folks don't need much sleep; the night ahead keeps us awake. I, I'm always first one up, never really go to bed, prowl house and grounds the night through, napping and nibbling. O I fret about the wife and kids, national debt, salad garden; talk to myself, go round in circles. ."
I squatted before him. "Old fellow, are you blind and deaf?"
"Excuse me," he said. I gripped his arm. "Used to be," he said, "I'd have a lackey do the introductions when I held an audience. No need now, I can start the story anywhere; it goes right along, you'll see, hangs together like a constellation if you know the stars, how to read them. My name's Cepheus — the Ethiopian king? My wife'll be along presently, Cassiopeia; she's down washing her hair. Andromeda, too, Perseus, all the rest, they'll come by, you'll see them."
I moved my hand before his moveless eyes.
"To be king of Ethiopia, you know, it isn't easy; to be husband to a queen and father to a princess, that's harder yet; but to be father-in-law to a gold-haired conquering hero is hardest of all. Myself, all I ever craved was a quiet life: to mind the traffic, keep the books, pacify the gods, make a decent marriage for my daughter, tend my shrubbery, play with my grandchildren, leave Ethiopia no worse than I found it. Too long a list."
Except that her stonework never wept, I was fixed as by the first Medusa.
"But I never was a king," Cepheus said, "only consort to a queen. Cassiopeia, her majesty, that's the whole story; that's why we're all here, for better or worse. By heaven, she is beautiful! I can remember as if it were yesterday the first time — I forget. Andromeda? It was your mother! I forget." He frowned, seemed about to clear his head. "No, I remember, I remember! Zeus Ammon, it comes together!"
"You know where you are now, Cepheus?"
"Minding my business," he said, but in not just the right tone. "Out in the gardens, sure, late summer, grapes and tomatoes setting nicely, beans need another rain. I fret about Andromeda, why she and Perseus split up after all these years, what Cassiopeia's brewing." Now it was he took me by the shoulder, but blank as ever, confiding as if to a royal crony: "Children, I swear, you think you've got them settled at last and bang, home they come with a clutch of new grief. Not that I wasn't glad to see my girl, even with her new young man in tow — "
I groaned. "Where are they, Cepheus?"
"We've always got on, Andromeda and I, despite the Wife. I wish she'd brought the kiddies too, they'd like the beach this time of year. Don't forget, she's my only child: it left a hole in the house, I tell you, when Perseus fetched her off, happy as I was to see her saved. Just me and Cassiopeia then, in this big place. I don't know."
Hand on dagger I made to leave; but Cepheus held my robe for the moment it took to reinstruct myself in patience.
"It isn't the separation upsets me so," he declared.
"Oh?"
"They aren't kids any more; their kids aren't even kids; I keep forgetting. And often as Cassiopeia and I have wished we'd never met. . Though even at the worst we've stuck together, marriage isn't what it used to be, youngsters nowadays. Faw! Andromeda's near forty, showing it too, eyelines mainly, all those worries, got that from me. It's like I told Perseus — "
"What'd you tell Perseus, Father?"
Again he frowned beside me. "You. . you can't have two women in the same palace." "I believe it."
"So do I."
Love, please, we're a way from the epilogue. "That's what I told Perseus," Cepheus said, "right after the wedding. Taps me on the shoulder, wants to know how'd it all really start. I took him aside, put it to him straight: 'How does it always? Two women under one roof. Cass brags about her hair, natural curl, pretty as a goddess's, Andromeda's lucky to have it too, et cetera. Hundred times I'd told her: you got your natural curl, don't make waves. Sure enough, comes word from the oracle: Nereids in a pout, somebody's got to pay or it's Cetus forever — and you know, Perseus, place like Joppa, once your fishery goes under, your whole economy goes.' Something like that."
I recalled the moment, sensed opportunity, quoted young Perseus: " 'Then how is it you cliffed Andromeda instead of your wife?' "
"There he had me," Cepheus replied. "All I could say was, 'It's a choice no man should ever have to make; anyhow, orders are orders.' But you put nothing over on Perseus, not in those days. ."
I tried again. " 'Whose orders, Dad? Did Ammon speak to you personally, or did you take your wife's word for it?' "
Cepheus almost smiled. "Thank Zeus it was just then Phineus and company crashed the party! By the time they were stoned, you'd forgot what you'd been asking."
"I remember, I remember!" I resquatted, holding both his shoulders. "You do too, now?"
Cepheus shook his head ambiguously. "Twenty years later I'm still in misery over it, weeding out my chickpeas and cursing myself for a coward, to let history repeat itself. ."
"You never were a coward, Cepheus! I-F-5, the Battle in the Banquet Hall, remember?"
"No, by Zeus," he agreed, I hanging on his pronouns, "not quite a coward, just deadly henpecked, and there you are — "
"Perseus! This is Perseus!"
"Come to a man's fight, I always held my own." He let me help him to his feet; my own knees were scarcely less stiff. "I don't excuse myself," he said.
"Don't apologize! You know me now?"
"You can imagine how I felt when the time came, rambling in the bean hills, tapped once again, and there stands Perseus, asking me what's Cass cooking up this time, and where's Andromeda, and what's she up to, as if twenty minutes had gone by instead of twenty years!"
I squeezed. "That's what I'm asking, Cepheus! Look at me!" His eyes were moving now, more like a frightened man's than a blind. I laughed and slapped my gut and pate. "See? It has been twenty years: I'm fortier than your daughter- stout and stiff, half turned to stone. ."
Cepheus closed his eyes. "Perseus. . stout, stiff, or ill. ." He pursed a small smile. "Is Perseus still. Night air's bad for the arthritis. Let's go in, son."