The Voices in My Head

I published this story on the blog of my art studio site. The link to my studio is at the end of the story.

During the Trinity test in 1945, three particular individuals conversed over the clouds. Dionysus, from the Golden Age of Athens, God of wine and, some say, the underworld, was unusually pensive. He reminisced about his dual-natured role, which embodies both joy and frenzy. Thoughts of recent visits to Hades burned through his memory. “Some demons are about to unleash,” he said. “From the under to the upper worlds they will roam, and that man with the pipe will bide in frenzy for the rest of his life.”

” I see,” replied the Scythian executioner kneeling in front of him. “I remember the frenzy from our brutal executions ages ago when our horses and minds were wild as the fire volcanoes spit from their hollow souls. That man with the pipe, like you say, will not recover. I’m here to persuade him to reconsider. I’ve told him that what he will see during this Trinity test will only be the beginning of mass gruesome deaths in this horrific war.
” I understand what you say,” said the man with the pipe. “These things are heavy on our hearts.” Dyonisus and the executioner sensed the tension the man was grappling with as he prepared to witness what was to come.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man with the pipe, stood among them, tasting the smoke from his pipe. It was apparent he had not eaten in a while. His eyes were bloodshot, but his sight was as focused as ever.
“I don’t worship your winemaking Dyonisus, but I love a good martini,” said Oppenheimer. ” Surely I’ll need some of those once this is over. Once the Manhattan Project, which is not in Manhattan, closes down, I will go on living a new life.
“Your heart will be heavier than a copper block,” said the executioner.
“Wine never blurred the memories I have of Hades, and martinis won’t help you. The frenzy will not leave you,” said Dyonisus. “You see me here lying as if without a care, but I cared, and you care, so be warned. Both of us here came to witness the unleashing of destructive nuclear power that will change the world forever. Here’s to you, Oppenheimer. May you be understood in the life to come.”

Oppenheimer looked at both, holding his pipe, whose smoke shaped the things to come, and said, “We know the world will not be the same.”

Mournfully and troubled, Oppenheimer quoted the Hindu god Vishnu, preserver of the universe. “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of Worlds.”