There was just something wrong . Oh, the house was not one of those stereotypical , spooky old Gothic Victorians, worn to weathered gray with broken steps and intimidating iron gates. This was a sedate
large Georgian style mansion of brick. And the people living there ?
Handyman Konstantinos managed to keep up with the landscaping, except for the side rose garden which was so overgrown so as not to really clearly see much of the statuary so prevalent amongst the bushes. Inside, Mrs Xenakis tended to her mistress Mrs Seduma . It was just the three of them in that big old home.
Folks did say they were a bit odd and kept to themselves, but they didn’t seem more than, well, weird. As kids, pals Norman, Joey, and Skeeter remembered going to the secluded old place at the end of Oak lined Provencal Lane in Grosse Pointe Farms every Halloween.
Housekeeper Mrs Xenakis would greet them , presenting a large bowl of wrapped Bakalava, leading them to a large parlor where Lady Basileus Seduma sat veiled in a large wingback chair, facing the baronial blazing hearth with her back to the entrance. A large gilded mirror was propped up to the side wall, and it was in this that she, or at least her reflection, engaged the celebrants with a warm greeting before sending them back to their revelry. It was strange , but old people tend to have strange habits. The impetus to keep going back was that Mrs Xenakis was blind and never seemed to notice “Trick or Treaters” taking a couple extra of the delicious Baklava.
Mrs Seduma got her groceries through Peapod and evidently did her shopping online as well. Fedex provided daily deliveries. Basileus was rarely observed outside. It was evident Seduma had mobility as she could be seen from outside, walking around inside with little effort for one so old. Her only observed affectation being she never was without wearing a turban (It was conjectured she suffered alopecia), and it was ascertained by the constant jerky movements of her head that she had palsy or some nervous disorder.
For the most part neighbors just shrugged off an eccentric old Greek lady, left her alone, and went on with their lives. She was rarely even topic of conversation after so long.
But of those former neighborhood pals, Joey Oerkfitz had matured into a nefarious adult; one that had fallen on hard times. But he did remember that rich old Greek lady living with a blind housekeeper and a now feeble old handyman . Thinking this was easy pickings, the thief came back to Grosse Pointe , choosing Hallow’s eve to plan a home invasion and robbery while the old woman Seduma was occupied with her costumed visitors.
Sneaking thru the darkened rose garden, he jimmied the kitchen French doors, entered,...
And the lights came on ! It was Lady Seduma herself ! She knew what was happening instantly. She stared at Joey intently with piercing laser eyes, simultaneously unwinding her turban to reveal- a headress of live, writhing snakes. Joey instantly and literally froze on the spot.
No one saw old Konstantinos arduously wrangle a new statue into the Rose garden later that night. Joey, because of his distrustful nature, had few friends and was never missed or inquired after.
The surprise is that Mrs Seduma, even with her quirkiness, never caused a soul to deduce that her name was but an anagram for none other than the descendent of one of the three ancient Greek Gorgan sisters...MEDUSA-(Least of all Joey, whose statue stands overgrown by lovely hybrid “Just Joey” roses, gracing the garden of Mrs Seduma in perpetuity)
Postscript
Greek Mythology has it that there were three Gorgon sisters , Euryale, Stheno, and Medusa .
Medusa and her sisters were originally ravishingly beautiful maidens, especially Medusa; called "the jealous aspiration of many suitors," but Poseidon had raped her in Athena's temple, making her pregnant. Her sisters stood with her against Athena’s indignation, causing the enraged Athena to transform all three sisters beautiful hair to serpents , and making their faces so terrible to behold that the mere sight of them would turn onlookers to stone. She additionally made Medusa mortal and then later sent Perseus to behead her.
So , while Medusa was dead , there remains the possibility that she gave birth before her death , thus giving the world an immortal female child that still carried part of Athena’s curse forever.
There are still conflicting stories as to Medusa among historians to this day but, with the exception of the last paragraph, which is my totally my own conjecture, this version is most popular
- Jerry Wendt 2018
