Title: Jumping high
Author: Kristina Andersson
shanna_se@yahoo.se
Archive: Yes please. It would be nice if you let me
know though, so I can feel proud. :)
Rating: PG?
Pairing: Just a brief mention of C/S. This was
supposed to be just about Bliss, but Recess sneaked in
at the end.
Category: Humor
Feedback: Feedback feeds the muses. :)
Summary: Sometimes rivalry can be inherited.
Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters that
have appeared on Xena:WP or Hercules: tLJ. This takes
place in Scorpio's Hera's curse AU, and she owns
Recess. It's also sort of an Astrid Lindgren
crossover... So I don't even claim to own the plot...
Read more about it in the author notes in the end.
Hugs to Carrie for betaing this really fast. And, an
early Merry Christmas to Jesse.
Jumping High
Most people assumed the whole thing began when Bliss
came to live with Psyche for the summer, but it
actually started much sooner.
Before Psyche moved to the village, Nemesis was,
uncontested, the most beautiful and famous woman
there. Her Olympian connection just added the awe from
her neighbors. With Psyche came competition.
Although neither Psyche nor Nemesis would ever admit
it, they both felt envy and jealousy towards each
other. But appearances had to be kept, and disliking
someone for her fame and beauty was just too shallow
to be admitted in public. So, Psyche and Nemesis
became best friends. Competing best friends.
Nemesis would come to a party in a new dress, only to
be upstaged by Psyche wearing an astounding necklace.
Psyche's song recital would just happen to collide
with Nemesis' archery show at the fair. If Psyche
baked two pies for the village feast, one could bet a
thousand dinars Nemesis brought three. If Nemesis got
her cottage repainted, Psyche's cottage would soon be
both repainted and given a new roof. Both their
gardens where the finest in the whole district, filled
with lovely flowers, bushes and trees, but if Psyche
planted a new rosebush, you could be sure Nemesis
would plant two the next day.
And during all this, they were the best of friends.
Always smiling, never saying a unkind word to each
other. Always giving compliments to each other. Psyche
would smile and sweetly say, "I just love your new
dress, Nemesis. It's amazing what you can do with such
inferior material."
And Nemesis would smile right back and say, "Thank
you, Psyche. Oh, and I love your new azaleas. You
know, most people would do their best to get them as
big and in blossom as possible, but you manage to keep
them just right, so they don't dominate the rest of
your garden."
Nemesis' favorite subject was her son. "It must be so
hard for you to be away from your son," she told
Psyche sympathetically one day. "I don't understand
how you can stand it. I would *die* if someone took my
son away."
Psyche forced out a smile and sweetly said, "Oh, it's
hard, but Bliss sends scrolls at least once a week.
Did you know he's been able to read and write since he
was three?"
Nemesis paled but smiled back, "Really,
that's´amazing. Of course, Evander walked and even ran
before his first birthday. Without balance help from
wings or such."
And so it continued.
"Evander did a perfect back flip! He's becoming such a
big boy. I'll probably have to send him to Charon's
academy soon.."
"Bliss made this painting for me. Isn't it beautiful?"
"Evander caught his first pray with bow and arrow
today!"
"Bliss actually understands what that Pythagoras
fellow is talking about."
"Evander drove the chariot all by himself."
"Bliss knows four languages already. Without using his
god hood."
By the time Bliss came to the village, both boy's
hated the other, who they'd heard so much about
It had been suggested that Bliss should know his
mother's legacy and therefore spend the summer as a
mortal. And while he would miss his Daddy, Dad Strife
and sister Recess a lot, Bliss was happy to spend some
time with his mother, even if it meant he had to be
mortal to do it. So, Bliss arrived sans wings and
godly powers. Something Evander immediately took
advantage of by challenging him and the other boys in
the village to a race, which he won, of course.
Bliss countered by impressing all the girls with his
skillful lyre playing. And so the competing begun.
Swimming, reading, archery, singing, arm wrestling,
making tree houses, chopping the most wood; it didn't
matter, they just had to compete. They even competed
about who could remove the most weeds.
All this competing naturally became entertainment for
the rest of the kids. As soon as a challenge was
issued, verbal or not, children came running from all
places to cheer the contesters on and making bets.
"Come on! Evander and Bliss are gonna see who can fit
the most marbles in their mouth!"
"Did you hear? Bliss and Evander are going to see
which one can eat most pies!"
"I bet Evander will win!"
"Are you crazy?! Bliss can win this one with his hands
tied behind his back!"
So when Evander invited Bliss to a high jump
competition, everyone was there.
At first, Bliss figured winning this would be a piece
of cake since he'd always been good at jumping.
Unfortunately, he soon realized it was a lot harder
without having wings to flap to help him in getting
higher.
Evander and Bliss jumped and jumped. The bar was
raised higher and higher until Bliss, when he landed
on the soft grass, could hear Evander giving out a
triumphant cry. He turned around. Yes. The bar was on
the ground.
He'd lost. Bliss bit his lip, ignored his friends who
where patting his back, saying it was just bad luck
and that he would do better next time, and looked at
Evander. The boy stood among his friends who were
cheering at him, he was smirking and preening in their
admiration. "Told you I was better than you!" he
gloated to Bliss.
Bliss scowled and snorted, "Anyone can jump from the
ground and up. I bet I'm better than you at jumping
from top to bottom."
Evander blinked, "You're on! I bet you don't dare to
jump down from..." He looked around the field. "The
Goblin stone!"
The stone in question was a rather large rock in the
middle of the field. Named after the fact that it
*did* somewhat resemble a goblin. If one had
imagination.
Bliss eyed the stone. It was big, but the distance to
the ground didn't seem to be too high. "You're on!" he
said and started to climb up on the rock.
When up there, he looked down, took a deep breath, and
jumped. He landed on his feet, without stumbling or
loosing his balance but he could feel his teeth
rattling in his mouth. "See? I did it!" he smirked to
Evander and enjoyed his friend's cheers and
congratulations.
Evander scowled.
Bliss grinned, "And I bet you don't dare to jump
from..." he looked around and thought about it for a
couple of seconds until his eyes settled on an object.
"I bet you don't dare to jump from Halidus' hay cart!"
Halidus' hay cart was the farmer's pride and joy. It
was the largest cart in the whole district and the
whole village used it during hay making season. Right
now it was parked on the field for some minor repairs.
Evander just sneered at Bliss and silently climbed up
on the hay cart and up on the rail. He had to wave a
bit to get back his balance, then he jumped. He
wobbled a little, but he stood on his two feet and
tried to act like he did things like this everyday.
"Beat that!" he said to Bliss. Evander's friends
cheered while a girl from Bliss' group shouted, "Oh,
he can do better than you! Isn't that right, Bliss?"
The rest of the gang started to chant, "Bliss, Bliss,
Bliss!" as Bliss tried to think of some way to beat
Evander.
Suddenly he knew. "I'll jump from the old oak!" he
exclaimed. His fans cheered while Evander's friends
looked at him doubtingly.
The old oak tree was huge and old. It was so old the
grown ups said it was dying inside. Since the tree had
once been blessed by Demeter, the villagers didn't
dare to cut the tree down completely. But since the
old oak had been the children's climbing tree for
generations, mothers where afraid that a child would
get hurt, falling down when a rotten branch gave in, a
compromise had been made. The lower branches had been
cut off so that no child would be able to climb up in
the tree. Unfortunately, that only served to
illustrate that when there's a will, there's a way.
Now it was even more exciting to climb the tree. And
since it was harder to do so, those who managed it
where very admired for the feat.
Bliss had spent a whole week figuring out how to get
up after he'd seen Evander do it once. So he knew
exactly where to put his feet and hands on the trunk
to get up to the lowest branch. Which wasn't low at
all...
Sitting on the branch he took a deep breath, and went
completely still. How was it that the tree branch
seemed even higher up than usual?
"Ha! He wont do it!" a girl from Evander's
cheerleading squad shouted.
Bliss scowled at him. "Yes, I will!" he said, and
jumped. He landed on his knees, and it hurt a bit, but
he tried not to let it show as his friends came to
help him up. Patting his back, basking in his glory.
He'd done it! Even Evander's cronies was cheering for
him now.
Evander pouted. Everybody was ignoring him and just
focusing on Bliss. What was so special about jumping
down from the oak, anyway? Sure he'd never done it,
but he would've. If he'd thought about it first. He
would've! He'd show that stuck up Bliss! He'll...
well, do something. He noticed some movement in the
grass. A little frog. Absentmindedly he picked it up.
Bliss walked the way over to Evander. He smirked like
to say, beat that!
Oh, how he despised Bliss. So much that it felt like
he was about to explode! He just had to take him down
a peg or two! And now all the other kids where on
Bliss' side. The traitors! He had to do something to
win them over. "I... I'll..." he shouted over all the
cheering.
"You'll do what?" Bliss asked a bit snidely.
Evander wanted punch his lights out, or at least wipe
that smug look of his face. "I'll eat this frog!" he
blurted out, and then paled when he realized what he'd
just said.
Everyone got quiet. Bliss just stared at Evander. "No
way!" he said.
Evander's supporters quickly moved away from Bliss'
cheering section and back to Evander. "Sure he will!
Evander can do anything, if he puts his mind to it!"
Evander's friend Rolf said.
Several others agreed and slowly started to chant,
"'Vander, 'Vander, 'Vander!"
One of Bliss' friends loudly said, "I bet my leather
ball against your animal skull, Hergon, that he wont
do it!"
A boy from Evander's side, shouted back, "You're on!
He'll do it! He's Evander!"
"You'll do it, won't you, 'Vander?" Rolf said, his
eyes full with hero worship.
Evander bit his lip and looked at the little frog. He
really didn't want to, but he couldn't back down now.
He couldn't let Bliss win! He closed his eyes and put
the frog in his mouth. It was wriggling and squirming
in his mouth. He felt like throwing up. He opened his
eyes. His friends where eagerly looking on, still
chanting his name. Bliss stood a bit back, completely
still, slowly shaking his head. Oh, so Bliss didn't
think he could do it, did he? He'll show him! Evander
swallowed.
Evander could feel the frogs legs moving as it went
down his throat. He felt sick. He looked at Bliss, the
other boy looked pale. Served Bliss right for making
him eat the frog! "See? I did it!" he bragged.
"You're such a loser, you and your mother could take
that show on the road. The worlds greatest losers!
Maybe if you get famous, Psyche can keep a man!"
As Bliss' face got redder and redder, Evander realized
what he'd just said. He really didn't mean that about
Psyche. It was just that Bliss made him so mad. And he
really wished he hadn't eaten the frog right now. He
felt like throwing up.
Evander was just about to apologize to Bliss about the
stuff he'd said, when the other boy walked up in his
face; and with a deadly silent voice which showed
exactly how angry Bliss was, said, "My daddy says that
if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say
anything at all. However, my Dad Strife would say that
you have the face not even a mother could love and an
IQ lower than a satyr. And you smell." He took a step
back from Evander and turned to the others. "And I'm
going to jump from the barn roof," he proclaimed.
Most of the children cheered, but Rolf's sister Dara
exclaimed, "He's crazy! He'll get killed!"
But since no one listened to Dara anyway, all the
children followed Bliss to the barn. Even Evander, who
when no one was looking sneaked behind the barn for a
while.
A ladder was easily found and Bliss climbed up on the
roof. He slowly managed to get him self to the end of
the roof ridge where he stood. Then he made the
mistake of looking down. Bliss froze, it sure looked a
lot higher from the top than from the ground...
"He's chickening out!" Rolf cried out and even jumped
up and down in excitement. "I knew he wouldn't do it!"
"Well, I don't see Evander up there!" A girl called
Sera, who was on Bliss' side, huffed.
Rolf frowned at that and looked around. "Where *is*
Evander?" he asked, just as Evander appeared from
behind the barn.
"There he is!" Hergon shouted. "Come on, Evander!
Bliss is backing out. Show him how it's done!"
Evander looked at Bliss, at the roof, and the distance
to the ground and looked a bit undecided.
"He wont even get up there!" Sera snorted. "And Bliss
will jump. He's just gathering his thoughts and
finding his focus. Jumping off roofs is serious
business, something Evander doesn't dare to do!"
"Oh, really?" Evander growled, and started to climb
the ladder. "Just watch me!"
Growling all the way, he climbed and crawled all the
way to were Bliss was. Bliss was strangely reminded of
Grandpa Ares...
"Let's do this!" Evander snapped... and looked down.
He paled. It looked a lot longer to the ground from
here.
On the ground all the children had started to cheer
and chant on their favorite.
"Come on, Bliss! Show them!"
"'Vander! 'Vander! You're the man! Show that Bliss
what you can!"
"Bliss! Bliss! Bliss!"
Evander looked at Bliss.
Bliss looked at Evander. "I'll jump if you jump," he
said.
"I'll jump," Evander answered.
They stood like that for a little while listening to
the children below.
"Jump! Jump! Jump!"
Bliss raised an eye brow just like Grandma 'Dite had
taught him. "Well?"
"I'll jump! I'm just resting a bit!" Evander snapped
and moved closer to the edge.
Bliss did likewise. "I guess this is it," he said.
Evander nodded and looked down again. The village kids
looked almost scary now. He hesitated, "Wait a minute!
How do I know you don't just climb down after I've
jumped?"
"How do I know you don't do the same if I jump first?"
Bliss countered.
Evander thought about that, "Lets jump together, after
counting to three." He suggested.
Bliss nodded, and the boys moved even closer to the
edge.
"Jump! Jump! Jump!" the village kids shouted.
Evander looked at Bliss, and Bliss looked at Evander,
and together they said, "One! Two! Three!"
And they jumped.
********************
Recess entered the room by jumping backwards. "You're
both very stupid," she said cheerfully to Bliss and
Evander. "Jumping down from roofs like that!" She
turned to Bliss, "Did you forget you didn't have your
wings anymore?"
Bliss scowled at her, "No I didn't forget. Why don't
you go and bother someone else? I'm sick."
"No, you're not." Recess grinned and walked up to her
brother's bed. "You're just suffering from stupidity
and have a couple of broken bones because of it." She
leaned over, "But I'm glad you're ok," and kissed him
on the cheek.
Before Bliss could let out an indignant howl at her
for doing something that mushy in front of other
people, Recess moved away and danced across the room.
"I'm going to talk with the muses and find the perfect
bard to make a story about this, so other children
don't do something this stupid!" With a giggle she
twirled around and left in a shower of pink and purple
butterflies.
"Oh, great," Bliss moaned. "She's learned to mind
move! This will make baby sitting her Tartarus!"
"I'm more concerned about the fact that she's going to
get the muses to spread this out all over Greece.!"
Evander muttered.
Bliss shrugged, "Don't worry, she'll probably have
forgotten all about talking with the muses tomorrow. I
doubt she'll think about it again for at least a
millennia or two."
In the next room, they could hear Psyche and Nemesis
yelling at each other.
Evander sniggered, "I guess we were a bit stupid."
Bliss let out a giggle, "I think we were a lot
stupid."
"Why did we start competing for in the first place?"
Evander asked.
Bliss frowned, "You know, I can't remember. It just
felt like I had to."
"You mean we've been competing like this for no reason
at all?"
"I guess so."
"That's so silly!" Evander laughed.
"I know!" Bliss giggled.
"I can't believe I ate that frog," Evander chuckled.
"Me neither!" Bliss sniggered and confessed, "I
thought *I* was going to throw up just watching you
eat it!"
"I did throw up! Behind the barn!" Evander exclaimed.
They were both howling with laughter when Psyche and
Nemesis came into the room. "What's so funny?" Psyche
asked.
The boys looked at their mothers, and then at each
other, and then just laughed even more.
In the other room the healer smiled. Laughter could
help healing a lot more than broken bones.
THE END
Author's Note:
Most of the plot in this story belongs to Astrid
Lindgren. She wrote a short story about two boys
competing in jumping down from things, before I was
even born. In Swedish, it's called, 'Hoppa högst', the
English title might be 'One jump too many'. But I'm
not sure it's even been translated, since this isn't
one of Astrid's most famous stories. This needs to be
said. This story was not written to disrespect Astrid
Lindgren and her work in any way. In fact, I meant the
opposite.
When Astrid Lindgren died, the 28th of January 2002,
I thought that if Recess were real, she would be very
sad right now.
Astrid Lindgren is most known as the creator of Pippi
Longstocking, and was Sweden's most known children's
author. But you don't have to be a child to enjoy her
books. If you ever come across 'The Brothers
Lionheart', 'Ronia the Robber's Daughter' or 'Mio, my
son'. I recommend you take the chance to read them.
'The Brothers Lionheart' became my favorite book when
I was ten. It still is. It's not just something so
unusual as a children's book which deals with death
and the afterlife, it's also, in my opinion, one of
the greatest fantasy novels ever written.
Astrid Lindgren once wrote;
'I don't consciously set out to educate or influence
the children who read my books. The only thing I dare
hope for is that my books may perhaps encourage a more
human, life-enhancing and democratic outlook among my
readers. But books that set out to be nothing more
than a reading experience must be allowed to exist. I
was once handed a note by a stranger which read:
"Thank you for bringing some glitter into my gloomy
childhood." That's enough for me. If I have
been able to bring some sunshine into a single child's
life, then I am satisfied.'
She brought a lot of sunshine into mine. And if I ever
have children of my own, I'm sure she'll bring joy to
them too.
I hope Astrid has a wonderful time in Nangijala. No
one deserves it more. (What Nangijala is? Read 'The
Brothers Lionheart' and find out. ;)
Ever since I heard of Astrid's death, I wanted to
write something involving Bliss and Recess, and her
books. I considered letting Bliss and Recess meet
Pippi or Emil, but I soon realized that I could never
do Astrid's characters justice. Not until now, did my
muses decide to help me. I remembered a short story
that always been a favorite of mine. Why not let Bliss
be one of those competing boys? Why not let the other
boy be Evander?
And so, this story was born. And I firmly believes
that if Recess could've chosen an author to write down
her brother's stupidity, Astrid would've been her
first choice.
Broken links or other errors can be sent to
Carrie. Suggestions are also welcome.