Disenchantment 20

"Okay,” said Oren. “What’s your opinion on which calendar we should use?

 

“Humans would use our regular calendar, I guess.”

 

“So, a normal two month’s time? What I think of as two month’s time? From June to August? Yeah?”

 

“I would say, no.” Nannette briefly smiled at Mark. “If I were a god, I would use the lunar calendar.”

 

Oren smiled, and seemed to be a little tense and impatient. “So...how much is two moon’s time?”

 

“Twenty-nine days,” she said. After briefly thinking for a few seconds, she continued, “No, twenty-nine and a half days. Twenty-nine point five. It’s what we call a synodic month. From the perspective of a human on Earth that is the amount of time it takes for the moon to complete its monthly cycle and be in the same place in the sky again. Actually, give me a second, that’s not one-hundred percent correct.” She took out her cell phone and began typing.

 

“Another form of time would be a lunar month based on English law,” said Floyd. “That would be exactly twenty-eight days. There are other earthly ways to measure this.”

 

“Great, we’ll keep that in mind,” Oren replied.

 

“All right,” Nannette announced, “the exact amount of time is twenty-nine days, twelve hours, and forty-four minutes. 29.53059 days. That’s the mean, you know, similar-to-average time, but it can vary throughout the year, depending on the season. I just Googled that.” She offered, still showing them subtly that they may not have needed her.

 

“Okay Oren,” said Mark. That’s pretty damn close to twenty-nine point five. That would give us fifty-nine days for two lunar months. I’m no expert at anything other than delivering mail, but I can do your addition for you,” he quipped. “What was the date that Perry went missing, man?”

 

“We went to her parents’ on... the twenty-third? No, the twenty-second.” As Nannette watched, three of the men clearly started doing math in their heads, Floyd was visibly using his fingers to count. Malbourne still remained motionless, taking turns glaring at both her and Floyd. Nannette assumed that Oren got a free pass because he hired him and she wasn’t sure of his relationship with Mark. He was probably safe being a good friend of Oren.

 

Mark finished first. “We have three different possible dates. The first would be the easiest, using our Gregorian calendar, and also the farthest away: February twenty-second. If we use the lunar calendar, that would be February nineteenth. And if what Floyd says is true, then using the English law lunar calendar, the date would be February sixteenth.”

 

“Are there any other calendars less than twenty-eight days?” asked Oren。

 

“I don’t know exactly, but there were older lunar and solar calendars that I know had around twenty-eight days, and thirteen months. I’m just not that familiar with calendars, mostly other beliefs. I think in ancient Babylon they had that.” Floyd had also taken his phone out and was searching through it while talking.

 

“What about ancient Greece, since we think we are dealing with their gods?” asked Oren.

 

Floyd mumbled a little under his breath, all his attention the screen of his phone, then barely whispered, “Thirteen days between Julian and Gregorian calendar...” After several seconds, he said, “Give me a minute.”

 

“Yeah, let’s take a little break,” said Oren. “Would anyone like anything else to drink?”

 

Malbourne held up his empty glass as one would to a servant. Floyd seemed wrapped up in his phone. Nannette just shook her head. As Oren grabbed Malbourne’s empty glass, Mark said, “I can do another cup of coffee, but I can get it myself. I like a little more of a kick in it than the way you prepare it, no offense.”

 

When Nannette noticed that Malbourne stood up and was walking toward her, she immediately got up and walked toward Mark. “Maybe I’ll have a coffee too. Do you mind if I come with you?” she asked Mark.

 

“Feel free,” he said as she followed him into the kitchen.

 

As they walked into the kitchen, Malbourne followed. Noticing the third person, Mark said, “Would you also like a cup of coffee?”

 

“No,” was all that Malbourne said. Nannette guessed that he had followed to see what she would say about him and his prior conversation with her that had occurred outside, or to prevent any such conversation.

 

Approximately ten minutes later all five of them were sitting around Oren’s large coffee table on one of three plush sofas that Oren had in his living room. She opted to sit down next to Mark. Apparently Oren had gone elsewhere in the house to get brandy for Malbourne, another brown liquor for himself, and an unrequested Coca Cola for Floyd, who sat alone on his own couch.

 

“I found a few things,” started Floyd, “I was looking on Wikipedia, about—“

 

“Excuse me,” interrupted Malbourne, “but do we really Need Ms. Chan’s presence anymore? I mean it is a bit of money for her to just be here, and it seems that we have used up all her knowledge on the matter. If we are now listening to him, then perhaps we can bid her goodnight.”

 

“Do you need to be somewhere, Nannette?” asked Oren.

 

“No, but if you want me to go, it’s really okay.”

 

“It’s my money, and I want her here. Five heads are better than four. And Blake, you charge a bit of money yourself without having contributed anything so far.”

 

Malbourne gave an unconvincing laugh before he spoke. ”Just taking it all in, Oren. Just taking it all in.” He nodded to signify his acceptance of Oren’s decision, but his eyes spoke volumes in contrast to his gesture.

 

Floyd looked around hesitantly through a few seconds of silence before he continued. “Okay, I found some stuff on Wikipedia, you know, before we get to the reason why you invited me here.” As he talked, he would occasionally look at his phone before continuing. He made eye contact with mostly Oren, then Mark, then herself. On the rare occasion he uncomfortably looked at Malbourne, it was quick, startled, and darting.

 

“It seems that the ancient Greeks had three different calendars. Keep in mind the ancient Greek city-states were their own nations, and they had their own cultures and ways of doing things. They weren’t one big happy family. Sparta was often at war with Athens, as were others. They developed simultaneously, yet often independently of one another. They were absolutely their own entities.

 

“Now all these calendars were at different times and places, and also sometimes used during the same time and place. Let’s just look at Athens, as an example. At one time, all three calendars were in existence and used at both the same time and place, but for different reasons. They had one calendar for only the seasons. This was used specifically for agriculture, as you might imagine. In those days, if you weren’t a farmer, you probably didn’t pay attention to this one. They used the fixed points of the stars during certain times of year to keep track of this one.”

 

“Were any of their calendars less than twenty-eight days?” asked Oren.

 

“No, as far as ancient Greece is concerned, I can’t find any evidence of any months having less than twenty eight days.”

 

Oren nodded. “Okay, what about the other two?”

 

“The next calendar had ten months to it. It was used more for business and government. I really couldn’t find much information about this in the last few minutes. Besides, it doesn’t seem relevant to what we are looking for, primarily because a ten-month year would mean that the months are certainly much longer than twenty-eight days. It was more for...uh... policy, bureaucracy, that sort of thing. No woshippin holidays and such. No religion. The final calendar is the one I think we are looking for.

 

“This calendar had twelve months and was used for mostly religious purposes. It was the calendar of most of the common folks and the clergy. It was lunisolar, meaning it attempted to both keep track of the lunar cycle and the solar cycle. Now, that was difficult to do, some might say impossible.”

 

“Right,“ stated Nannette. “A lunar year is 354 days, while a solar year is 365 days.” She made her statement while looking directly at Malbourne, to show that she was still useful in the conversation.

 

“I don’t understand how they are compatible, how can you have both?” asked Oren.

 

“It’s complicated,” said Floyd. “Our year is technically closer to 365.25 days a year, right?”

 

“Yes, so every four years we have a leap year, an extra day in February,” said Oren.

 

“Yes, but let’s call that a leap day, not a leap year, okay? So, the Athenians, amongst other ancient Greeks would have a leap month, instead of a leap day every four years. Basically, every three years they would shove an additional month into their year. Giving them a 384 day year. This is what kept the lunar and solar years together.”

 

“That’s actually, pretty interesting,” said Oren.

 

“There’s a lot interesting there,” said Floyd. “Their first month was called Hekatombaion. It took place in the months that we refer to as July and August, covering part of both. The average citizen didn’t know if there would be twenty-nine, or thirty days in the month until the middle, when an astronomer would determine how many days there would be in that particular month. They divided their months into three parts, based on the current lunar cycle, something akin to what we might call a week, but still very different. Some of their holidays were annual, while others were monthly. The average ancient Greek celebrated his birthday every month. That’s what’s relevant for us. The monthly holidays, not the annual ones.

 

“If they had political holidays like Memorial Day, or Independence Day, those would be annual. Some of their religious holidays were annual too. But, others occurred every month. For example, the third day of the month was dedicated to Athena. The fourth day to Heracles, Hermes, Aphrodite, and Eros. These festivals usually only occurred for the first eight days of the month. Usually.”

 

“Okay, ‘usually?’” asked Oren.

 

“That’s the Wikipedia stuff.” Floyd made a show of turning off and setting down his phone, then removing a small notebook from his pocket. “After Mark came to see me, I jotted down some stuff I thought relevant. I study the occult, ancient religions, mythology. I look for meaning in life, in things. My goal is to discover the truth of things. Why are we here? Why are there so many religions? What is the correct one? What happens before we are born and after we die? Do we really have souls?”

 

“In addition to my lifelong goal, I have a hobby, of collecting the texts that support certain beliefs. I have at home a very rare and ancient manuscript from an unknown source, believed to have lived in Rhodes in the fifth century BC.

 

“Look, I think I found what I have been looking for all of my life. You, Oren. This story you are involved in, I have to believe it. This is the culmination of my life’s work. I believe you.”

 

Oren nodded, shrugged, then took a long drink. “Okay, and?”

 

“Did you think your wife’s name was a coincidence?”

 

“At first, I didn’t think of it, but then with the other Greek stuff, the possibility occurred to me that it wasn’t coincidental.”

 

“What are you talking about?” asked Nannette. She noticed everyone was highly intrigued with what Floyd was mentioning, even Malbourne looked interested. He had mentioned his wife’s name, but she knew nothing about any significance it held.

 

“I have searched for corroboration to this text I have. I found none until tonight. Mark, what was the date for the lunar cycle’s two moon’s?”

 

“Uh...the nineteenth.”

 

“Yes,” said Floyd. “This text claims that the nineteenth day of the month is dedicated to the honor of the god of the dead, a name they rarely muttered and instead used euphemisms for. I believe your wife, Persephone, was kidnapped, like his prior wife of the same name. I am of the strong opinion that she, for whatever reason, is going to be his new bride. Hades, the god of the Underworld, has a new wife.”