Icarus Takes a Leap (flash fiction)

Icarus Takes a Leap

Feminine shrieks, and the slap of feminine feet in sandals, running away. Daedelus stuck his head out the window. “Icarus! Get down from there and cover it up, kid! Now!”

He sat back down and stirred a spoonful of honey into his hot wine. “I’m surrounded by idiots,” he told the young, dark-eyed slave. “My boss is teetering on the brink of psychotic paranoia. My nephew is a smarmy, smart-mouthed kid who thinks cleverness is an adequate substitute for hard work and experience. I’m stuck with him for an assistant.” His voice was bitter. He drained his cup and set it back on the marble table-top with a sharpish click. “But Icarus! Icarus is going to do me in.”

**

Icarus spread his legs on top of the rock wall to keep his balance, one hand stroking his ding-dong and the other waving at likely girls. Oh, their cheeks turned so red! Lashes fluttered like butterflies! But they all took a good, long look before they darted away, linen draperies flying. Yeah, baby, he was the man. He was hung like the crazy king’s bull and he lived to share his bounty with all the pretty little girls of Crete.

He shaded his eyes. Who was that coming now? Oh, Zeus. He knew who that was, and his mighty bull gave a lurch and a throb of happiness. Here was the Princess, hair as shiny black as the moon on the Mediterranean, big, dark eyes, indigo linen like spider webs, sheer and fine. She was coming this way on purpose, carefully putting her tiny feet from rock to rock. They all knew him. They knew where he parked. She wanted him. He gave his man a couple of extra strokes for luck.

Locked in the Tower

“Icarus, you…you idiot! If this window was a little bigger I’d toss you out on your head and watch you…” Daedelus turned away, ready to bite his tongue in two, ready to strangle his first-born to death. No one understood what it was like to be a single parent, to try and have a career with a weirdo son hanging around his neck like a millstone. Why? Why had he been cursed like this, destined to waste his brilliance on crazy kings, saddled with a son as fruity as… He threw up his hands and went for the wine.

**

Icarus found the wings when they were nearly finished. “Dad, where’s my pair?”

Daedelus looked shifty. “Well, son, naturally I wanted to test them for safety before I made yours. I’m making you a pair, don’t worry.”

Icarus wasn’t paying attention. He was dreaming, imagining the possibilities if he took to the sky in a pair of wings. Whole villages, whole countries, the world, treated to the view of his magnificent man! They would think he was a god!

Daedelus reached for his cup of hot wine, eyes narrowed. “Start collecting feathers, Icarus.”