My boat is ready, when they come in groups. Orphans, elderly, unshaven men and teenage girls.
The mica in their eyes reflect the river; fear; but in their hands they clutch my fee. But there are those I leave behind. They sleep in tents, and call for help.
They try in vain to trade their goods for coins.
I have a small collection, bribes and trinkets, and my bed is always warmed by girls, believing they can melt my granite soul.
I am Charon and my fee is fixed, and worse than Hades is the nothingness of being left behind.
© Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
The image put me in the mind of Charon, and the river Styx. Somehow I wanted the fee to traverse the river being similar as the human traffickers who live as parasites of the misery. Alas not a happy and uplifting piece this week either. I think my prose fell back to poetry this week….
Friday Fictioneers is a blogging group who writes to the same photo every week. We are all working under the leadership of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, who in addition to manage this group is successful as an author. Join us.
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March 16, 2016
Dear Björn,
A rather grim piece, but well done. The comparison of human traffickers to Charon is stunning.
Shalom,
Rochelle
P.S. Thank you for the kudos and the extra ‘s’ in Wisoff. 😉
Ouch… will correct the s… Mythology is powerful way to reflect on current events.
I love the voice in this. It’s haunting.
Thank you… I think Charon’s voice would be quite scary too.
His granite temperament grinds through this piece. I saw the allusion quickly and it made the piece even more dramatic. Well done.
You should always arrive prepared.
For some reason, that fable always scares me.
Maybe it should scare us…
Seems almost primal, doesn’t it.
Very topical and of course it is dark. Sometimes that has to be expressed and this is very moving.
Thank you… sometimes the idea from a picture comes immediately.
What a beautiful but morbid piece. The comparison of Charon and human traffickers was hauntingly accurate.
Alas I think it is… and I wonder if it’s more about leaving Hades.
Loved this Bjorn. It’s right, the mythology works brilliantly when used to illustrate the terrible things people traffickers get up to and how their victims suffer.
Thank you… This myth tells so much.
Bleak and heavy with despair. Just as you intended. Good job.
We are not here to just entertain are we?
God forbid! 😉
It was a very good story that stood on its own, but adding Chris DeBurgh made it great! Well done.
I have always loved that song…
I think darkness suits us both. I see Europe in your poetic story. I see all of us.
I see all of us, fenced apart.
His as cold as hades is hot.
Thanks for introducing me to Charon.
Brilliant story.
A fascinating figure really.
I have never heard of Charon. I think I might be afraid to research though so I will just take your word for it that he is a bad dude, especially if he is similar to a human trafficker. Well done. I was creeped out!
He is the ferryman that takes you cross the river Styx to the netherworld.
Oh dear. That is boat ride I can avoid.
Another beautiful piece, Bjorn. Although all the lines are great, the last is my favorite.
Thank you.. I usually try to work the rhythm into my prose… it often come out in iambs I think
One of my favourite myths, Bjorn, powerfully retold.
Excellent piece.
Thank you.. An chillingly excellent myth,
Yes – we were both thinking along the same lines this week! I love this – so beautifully written, and about a chilling subject. ‘My bed is always warmed by girls’ was a very poignant line.
I once heard that storytelling is telling the same stories over and over in new ways… so myths might cover all the stories we need to know.. I hope we can still find new ways to use them though
Your writing this week should make us all think, well done
Yes.. I think fiction should make us think… news seems to make us think less.
So much tragedy in that final phrase, ‘the emptiness of being left behind’. Beautiful.
Maybe we are just going from one netherworld to another…
My immediate thought when I saw the title was of the river Styx, but then as I read, images of the influx of Syrian refugees came to mind as well. And I have to wonder which is worse. Quite powerful interpretation of the photo.
I thought about the similarities… and yes we have the grim ferrymen for real.
Brilliant piece of work, Björn. Again.
You juxtaposed the reality with the myth beautifully.
Thank you.. it just came from seeing Styx in the picture…
Some characters are definitely cold-blooded…
Cold-blooded, yet utterly important.
Such a powerful piece. So much in so little words. Brilliant comparison.
Thank you… I enjoy tying to mythology… so many stories that can be used
As you said, quite dark but definitely food for thought. I found the ending quite chilling. something worse than death. Well done.
Actually in the old mythology the poor souls that walked along the river Styx had it much worse than those in Hades….
Very topical. I believe you’ve seen into the very heart of traffickers, well done!
I think many of them has to be like this… there are probably those who are not too bad…
Great story and voice. I like getting to know something about the dark figure in the boat:)
Charon is well known from Greek mythology… the dark figure in the boat could be a modern trafficker though.
I saw the trafficking first and only later ‘got’ Charon in there. It shows how timeless these old stories are, and how little humans change. Sad and tragical. Wonderful writing.
I find it very interesting… i once wrote something about Achilles and made him a failed athlete caught with dope that had to become a bouncer….
This was amazing. I loved the dark and unapologetically honest narrative. The final sentence was stunning and chilling.
You will find a lot of Darkness in Friday Fictioneers…
although based from an ancient lore, i find the rendering very contemporary. well done.
Isn’t it great how an ancient myth placed in contemporary setting makes sense.
Grim story. Very poetically written. Nicely done!
Thank you… Sometimes words fall that way.
This peice really does jump from the page, beautifully written. A fantastic take on the prompt!
🙂
Thank you… the river is a grim divide.
There’s no negotiating with this guy. You projected his character very well.
You cannot negotiate with the ferryman…
I do not want to know this person! Very well written!
Nobody wants to cross, but neither do they want to stay.
had to refer to wiki, grim story
I love to send people to wiki… 🙂
Fascinating! I would think that many (myself included!) would try to bribe Charon.
No bribe helps …but it only takes the obol…
“melt my granite soul” that’s beautifully expressed. The comparison between Charon and human traffickers is indeed an excellent one.
Thank you.. it came to me when I thought of the river Styx.
I love the voice of this story, Bjorn. Excellent story! You should write a novel or movie about Charon.
It would be interesting to move Charon into today’s world… chilling
It’s a wrenching thought, but knowing human nature, they’d quickly build a community anyway. Maybe the ferryman would no longer be needed.
I think we see those communities building right now… alas they are more like hell on earth.
Great story Bjorn, and so topical. What makes it so chilling is the matter-of-fact tone
It’s just a job… isn’t it.?
Wow! Twist and twist again Super take on the prompt, Bjorn. In fact, and I’m glad you included it, the Chris Deburgh song popped into my head as I was reading it. One of the greats — and a good story to go with it (or is it the other way around?).
Chris de Burgh made a great song from a great story… and I thought it fitted with my story to.. so I guess it can be any way around.
This is masterful how your story mirrors the horror of human trafficking. He has such power and seems so smug and detached about leaving them behind. Well done, Bjorn. As always.
I think he has to be detached about his “work”
Right. Otherwise, he probably couldn’t live with himself.
Wonderful use of Greek mythology (something I love to use — I recall using Charon in a story last year, but it was quite different from this)! What a bleak, bleak vision.
I loved it, of course!
Mythology is a great springboard for a story… I have thought about writing a book of short stories using this theme a while now… so this might be expanded.
Funny, so have I!
How about doing it together 🙂
It’s a lovely thought, Björn! Thank you!
The voice of Charon—crisp, stony, unwavering—feels as fixed as his soul. The precision of the language is lovely. I particularly enjoyed the specificity of the list of people who came to him. Such a chilly story; very powerful. Thank you.
I have always imagined Charon as a guy you can’t negotiate with… much like a trafficker…
Great piece, Bjorn. I could feel the desolation of those stuck there and the greed of Charon. Well done!
Thank you… I really enjoyed writing it… and maybe it’s something we can learn from.
Very dark and moody but with a point, nonetheless. Good read… #FridayFictioneers
To make a point in my stories is something I often try to do… and mythology is similar in that sense.
Great incorporation of contemporary issues (human trafficking) with ancient legend. I wonder what the old gods would think of current humanity.
Maybe the incestuous rapist Gods would feel right at home…:-)
Oh, I got it, even without your notes. Wonderful writing on a very troubling issue.
This is such a moving parallel – and so apt. Wonderful use of details to bring the character of the ferryman, and his modern equivalent, to life.
How terrible to think you’re going to a place like that. The soul wouldn’t be alive or dead. As one author I read put it, “I want to be me.” Well written, Bjorn. You’re great with metaphors, with description. — Suzanne
A really impressive piece that packs a punch. Chilling diction and imagery.
Loved the ‘matter of fact desperateness’ that you played out in this piece. Well done!