The Labors of Hercules Beal

by Gary D. Schmidt

The goal is to learn something about yourselves through studying the classical myths. They aren’t just bedtime stories, and despite the look on Beal’s face when we covered the Pegasus story, they aren’t just weird stories from the past. They are stories meant to convey something about the world and about your place in it.

“Courage is shown in what we do, not in what we’re feeling. I think you showed real courage.”

And maybe what you start to learn is that even when you miss someone who is gone—I mean, really really miss them—that doesn’t mean that everyone is gone. And it doesn’t mean that the ones you miss have been replaced. But it does mean that you’re not alone. And that’s something, right? 228

Then we went back home and drank hot chocolate by the woodstove. It was like we were practicing being normal. It was like we were practicing not getting eaten up. It was like we were practicing what it could have been like.

I missed them like I would miss the sun.

“So I’m not telling you not to be angry, Beal. That would be telling you not to be a human being. I’m telling you not to act when you’re angry. There’s a difference.”

millimillionth of a second,

Here’s what happens in a family business when someone looks at you the way that Achilles was looking at me. It isn’t just him looking. It’s my father, and my grandfather, and my great-great-grandfather Elias and great-great-grandmother Elene and my great-great-granduncle Elijah, who are all looking out of Achilles’s eyes. And they’re all trying to learn to let go just a little bit. It isn’t easy, but they’re trying.

We are here to help you carry the sky when you have to, and we are here to help you put it down when you need to.

But like I said, I’m still here. And I have a lot more to do. That’s what I really wanted to tell you.