Author: Sterling
Title: Sisyphus Carries Girls Instead of Rolling Rocks
Summary: Sisyphus of legend was condemned to roll a huge
rock up a mountainside, only to watch it roll back down, but then
do it again and again for eternity. This Sisyphus is given
instead a small girl to carry to the top, but as soon as he
delivers her, he descends to carry the next one up. But each girl
grows up as they climb, and at the top he delivers a young woman
who has passionate desires.
Keywords: Mf, ScFi, fantasy, myth, humor, magic, 1st, slow, tears, hist, ESP, coer

NOTICE: This story contains explicit sex.

First posted 2/20/2023.

I'm always eager for comments, whether good, bad or mixed.
Comments to sterling27@live.com.

I have written many other stories and they can all be found at
http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/Sterling/

There is a more user-friendly web version of many of my stories
here: http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/~Sterling

Sterling

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Sisyphus Carries Girls Instead of Rolling Rocks

Zeus was highly displeased with Sisyphus. Daring to approach
young goddesses! But killing wrongdoers was so boring. He decided
instead on another punishment. Carry sniveling squirmy human girl
urchins to the top of the highest mountain, to be repeated
endlessly. After he set it in motion he smiled with satisfaction
as he saw Sisyphus with his charge, starting the long climb. He
could check in after a hundred years to see just how that
Sisyphus was suffering, but for now turned his attention to other
matters.

But Hera saw too, and thought Zeus was being too harsh. Flirting
with impressionable young goddesses wasn't so bad. They needed to
learn how to fend off the advances of unscrupulous young gods who
could overpower them. The goddesses could easily handle any
mortal who got fresh by use of their own budding powers.

Hera didn't dare to change the punishment Zeus had devised, but
she added a few things here and there. Those young girls Zeus was
providing for Sisyphus were human beings, and they hadn't done
anything wrong. They had to be allowed to grow up. What's more,
being carried would be boring and uncomfortable, and the least
she could do for them was provide some opportunities for rest and
pleasure.

The land of the punishment was dry and bare. Everything she added
was set in lush greenery.

---------------------------------------------------------

"Here is your charge. You know what to do."

Sisyphus sighed. He did know what he had to do. He had to carry
her to the top. All the way to the top. That is what Zeus had
decreed.

The girl looked to be about two years old. Brown hair, brown
eyes, little average girl body. She wore a gray T-shirt and gray
shorts, the same outfit that he wore. Like him, her feet were
bare. She frowned and only glanced up at him briefly.

He took her in his arms, but she didn't lie back like a younger
child. He shifted her to his hip. She looked at him with
curiosity.

"What's your name?" he asked. He meant to be friendly, but the
task ahead weighed on his mind, and he couldn't muster a smile.
She didn't answer.

Then there were the stairs. The steps were rock, and the passing
of many feet had smoothed them in places. There was no end in
sight above, just stairs and mountainside disappearing into the
haze. When he turned around, after a thousand steps, haze
shielded his view of the base of the mountain or any land beyond.
He had climbed this staircase before, he knew, and more than
once. But his memory of earlier trips was patchy, and some
details seemed to be different each time.

After a time -- short or long, he could not tell -- the steps
came to a landing -- a circular landing twenty feet in diameter.
These he remembered clearly from past trips. He thought of them
as "oases". Through an arch to the left was an area of lush
vegetation, perhaps ten yards wide and thirty yards deep. He knew
he was not allowed in there; it was a thought that Zeus had put
into his head, surely. To the other side was a low column against
the wall with a stone bowl on top, and from a hole above water
trickled into it. It was a sort of drinking fountain. Next to it
was a semicircular stone seat carved into the mountain rock. The
girl hopped down and vanished under the arch into the greenery.
Sisyphus was thirsty and drank lustily, then splashed water on
his face. He was tired. He sat on the bench and closed his eyes.
After a rest -- a brief nap or a long sleep he could not tell --
he woke to the girl tapping him on the knee. Her face was more
relaxed. He knew what he had to do. He picked her up again, put
her on his hip and resumed climbing. She soon fell asleep, and
slept for some hundreds of steps, but then woke up.

"My name is Anna," she said.

"I'm Sisyphus," he puffed.

She started talking then, nothing of importance, just little
things. Sometimes she asked him a question. He was breathing
hard, climbing such stairs and with something to carry as well,
so he kept his answers short, a word or two after each breath. As
she talked he began to get a sense of Anna as a distinct person,
not just a girl. She fell asleep again, and then woke. Then they
came to another oasis with the same layout. Anna went off to
gallivant around the lush green area to the side, and Sisyphus
fell asleep. After some length of time he sensed her presence in
front of him and he woke up. He knew what he had to do. He needed
to pick her up and put her on his hip again, but he was tired.

"Any chance you could walk a little bit?"

She shook her head. "You have to carry me."

"How far?"

She shrugged. "All the way."

That's what the answer had always been before, but it didn't hurt
to ask.

He woke after one of his sleeps and Anna was in a different
outfit. Instead of a gray T-shirt and shorts she had on a sky
blue T-shirt and brown shorts. Sisyphus's outfit had not changed.
Did she look a little bit older? He wasn't sure.

Although he got to switch her from hip to hip, resting one arm at
a time, his arms still felt very sore and over-used.

"Could you ride on my back? That would be much easier on my
arms."

It appeared Anna had never ridden on anyone's back before, but
once settled down she seemed quite content and even preferred it.
She wriggled against his back once, and he felt a little
emotional warmth. She was his companion for the duration of the
climb. It was nice to have some human contact.

His arms felt much relieved, but his legs had to work just as
hard. They ached.

At the next oasis she disappeared to play in the green garden
once more. It fit the pattern he remembered from before. The
higher they went, the larger were the areas of greenery. He
realized he was drinking at each stop, but he had eaten nothing.
But he was not hungry, nor had he felt the need to relieve
himself since they began the journey. He shut his eyes where he
sat, and slept a time that might have been long or might have
been short.

He woke to a voice, "Come on, wake up. It's time to go!" It was
Anna, who was nudging her hip against his knee. He realized that
he had felt her tapping before but had fought against waking up
-- he was so tired! At least he had the little reward of seeing
Anna looking at him with an affectionate smile before his work
began again.

His legs were sore and aching. He felt like he had great heavy
chains around his ankles, but when he looked down, there were
just bare legs and bare feet. He realized that if the time he was
sleeping had been long, it had not been any help in soothing the
pain in his legs.

Before too many rest stops had gone by, he woke and her outfit
had changed again. Now she was wearing a skirt of many colors and
a white T-shirt. He also knew without question that she was
bigger than before.

"Your outfit is different now. Did you change clothes?"

"Oh, it is different, isn't it! No, I didn't change. I guess it
just happened. Time to get going."

"A little more rest?" She folded her arms and frowned at him. He
rose wearily, she climbed up onto the seat behind him, and from
there onto his back. He realized they hadn't met a soul on the
whole trip. No one had passed them coming down, and they had
neither overtaken nor been overtaken by another party as they
climbed.

He also realized there had been no night time on the whole trip
so far. No dusk or dawn. Had all the trips been like that? "Does
night time come while I'm resting?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Never any night. That's funny, isn't it!"

Her smile as she said that melted his heart. Through all the
weariness, he realized he was very fond of Anna. She was way
bigger now -- 9 or 10?

The air was neither hot nor cold. It was warm. So were the stone
steps beneath his feet.

He enjoyed the warmth of human contact behind him, but the joy
was overshadowed by the thought of this extra weight he had to
carry. But what could he do?

Another landing. Anna dismounted and without her weight he
thought he might float into the air, but he did not. Water,
dreamless sleep -- he had no idea how long he slept.

Anna wasn't just a little girl. Her garment was now very light
fabric and he could see through it. He couldn't help seeing that
her chest was no longer completely flat.

His legs still ached, but he realized he hadn't been thinking
about it. He must have gotten used to it by now to stop thinking
about it now and then. When he stopped to rest, he felt how his
calves and thighs were as hard as iron.

"Do you know how old you are?" he asked.

She laughed. "How would I know that?"

Sisyphus shrugged. "When we started you were a little girl.
You're not a little girl any more."

"We kids are supposed to grow, aren't we?"

Very true. But it would have been nice if they had gotten to the
top when she was much smaller. Was he going to end up carrying a
grown woman? Or -- the thought made him uncomfortable -- an
ancient crone?

---------------------------------------------------------

A few oases on, she emerged with a green see-through garment
extending down to her ankles, with a few vertical slits that
allowed unobstructed glimpses of her body within. A lighter shade
of green than the greenery in the oases. Was that a flicker of
unease when she looked at him?

At the next landing he looked longingly into the greenery where
he was not allowed. He was to touch nothing but stone on this
journey. Stone, and a girl -- incidentally, now and then.

A similar robe but tan this time. She looked decidedly
uncomfortable looking at him. Why would that be? After glancing
at him she looked down. That meant -- might she have a crush on
him? A beautiful girl like her, and a dusty, exhausted man in a
gray T-shirt and gray shorts. But he felt a little refreshing
spark inside thinking she might be thinking of him that way.

At the next landing he woke by himself, before Anna woke him.
Where was she?

"Anna?" he called, and then when she didn't answer he called
again.

He looked into the green area but she was nowhere to be seen. By
now the green areas were so big he couldn't see the back. What if
she had gone? Up, down, or magically sideways? He felt confusion
and fear. But he could think of nothing to do but sit. His fate
was to climb, but it was only to climb carrying her, not just to
climb. Resting his weary bones was certainly appealing until his
future became clear. No divine directives had been planted in his
head to handle this sort of situation.

He thought about her as he sat. Anna was now nearly full grown in
height and girth. She had never been a cylinder, but her
deviations from that shape became clearer. That girth included
widening hips and a narrowing waist. Her chest had breasts where
it had been flat before. But along with extra height and girth
came weight. Oh, how well he knew her weight!

To walk without that weight would be a dream, but to walk without
Anna was a prospect that filled him with grief. He loved her, he
realized. He remembered there was this broader world in which
living was a rich experience with far more variety, and it was
true of childhood as well as adulthood. Here things were much
simpler. During her forays into the lush green at each oasis, she
was having a somewhat richer life, though her answers when he
asked what went on there were not very informative. She had no
interest in talking about it. But he took care of her in the one
way that was his path in life -- he carried her. There was a
parental aspect to what he was doing, but it didn't feel quite
like that either. What father spends time with his daughter by
carrying her on his back, ever upward? And he didn't feel like
her father, even an adoptive father. What was he, then? He was
the one who carried her. All the way to the top. Where was she?

Anna walked out of the green paradise.

"I was so worried!" he said. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine!" she said, but she scowled. Now she was dressed
in a sort of pink garment of a type he had never seen before that
ended at mid-thigh. The fabric was very thin, but as it fluttered
in the faint breeze, it confused his vision. Just to the side of
where he was looking it seemed he could see her naked body, but
when he focused on any spot it was just pink fabric. Between her
legs he thought he could make out some downy hair, though when he
looked he saw just pink cloth. He felt a premonition of lust, but
damped it down quickly. His job was to carry her to the top.
There was no place here for lust. There were stone steps to
climb.

At the next oasis, he fell asleep as soon as he sat down, and
slept a time that was, as always, perhaps short or perhaps long,
and Anna woke him up, dressed as before. She sighed, and looked
decidedly more annoyed with him than happy and friendly.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," she said with continued annoyance. Then, "I'm tired of
climbing."

He felt a flare of anger. "Climbing? You're riding! I'm the one
who's climbing!"

When he stopped to think about how his body felt, he wished he
hadn't. His back was sore, his thighs and calves and knees and
ankles were sore -- worse than sore. They were on fire. Even his
toes were sore. He was weary. So terribly weary.

"OK, I'm tired of riding."

"What shall we do instead?"

He knew there was no option of doing anything else, and
apparently she did too. She stepped around behind him on the
bench and leaned forward onto his back.

Sisyphus rose and resumed climbing.

---------------------------------------------------------

"Something's different," said Anna from his back. "The air is
different. The sound is different."

Sisyphus felt some differences too, but he was too weary to
process what they were.

"Look behind!" she said.

Sisyphus saw it, then -- an ocean of clouds. They had been
climbing through a misty haze, and now they were emerging from an
ocean of clouds. Mist from the inside was cloud when viewed from
the outside. Above them was blue sky.

"And look there!" she said, pointing up. And some distance ahead
-- half a mile? -- the mountain seemed to come to an end, and
there was nothing to see but sky.

With spirit soaring, Sisyphus might have started bounding
upwards, but his body would not allow it. He kept climbing at the
same pace. Behind him, Anna spouted a torrent of words, sharing
her hopes and fears and plans for what to do when they reached
the top. He in his weariness didn't even take in much of what she
said. He still had to get them there. When there were ten steps
left, he paused. The sudden sensation came to him that he
couldn't go one more step. But then with an act of will that felt
like it came from the depths of his soul, he took that one next
step, and then another. His legs started shaking. At the top
step, he tumbled forward, and Anna tumbled over his head onto --
grass! She rose to her feet and ran off. But Sisyphus marveled at
the feel of grass under his face and fingers. Having delivered
his cargo, it was evidently permitted for him to touch it and
walk on it.

When he stood, the absence of Anna's weight felt like a miracle,
but his body was still exhausted. As he surveyed the scene, he
saw that he was at the edge of a rough circle, perhaps a hundred
yards in diameter. And all along the edge of the circle, in both
directions, there was nothing past the edge but sky. He trudged
forward. Anna met him coming back the other way and urged him to
come forward to a depression in the center that had more than
just level grass. There were a few trees. There was a patch of
luxuriant grass on a raised area that surely was a bed! There was
a water fountain, much as they had encountered all along the
ascent. But there was a fountain feeding a much larger bowl -- a
bathtub! The water flowing in was decidedly warm. It looked very
inviting. He pulled his gray T-shirt over his head as he
contemplated that bath. He had his hand on his shorts, but then
realized Anna was right there.

"I guess you deserve to go first," she said with a friendly
smile. Glancing at his shorts, she said, "I'll wait over behind
there," indicating the edge of a vertical wall.

When she was gone, he finished stripping and slid into the water.
It was so refreshing! After a while he got out. There was no
towel, but he would dry naturally in the warm air. Then he
reluctantly put his dirty shorts back on and called to Anna so
she could have her turn in the bath. When he got to the same
place out of sight that she had been, he saw that it was a
depression with one stone wall. Tucked into nooks along the wall
were different kinds of delicacies -- fruits, cheese, bread,
smoked meat, sauces to dip the bread into. He was suddenly very
hungry and began eating. A bit later Anna rejoined him, once
again in her shimmering pink robe, and began eating as well, but
far less than Sisyphus, who was ravenous.

He also realized there had been something in that bath more than
just water, something wonderful, so he returned, and during a
long soak he felt the water relaxing and soothing his every
muscle and joint and roughened patch of skin. He drowsed a bit.

When he exited the tub he spied Anna peeking around the corner of
the food niche, though her head disappeared the moment she saw
him looking. She had seen him naked. He shrugged.

The idea of putting on those filthy gray shorts again was
disheartening, but then he noticed a robe laid out on the grassy
bed area. It was gray, of light material, and he put it around
him.

"Anna," he called.

She peeked around the corner, and apparently satisfied that he
was no longer naked, she walked over from the food niche. "I am
so tired," he said.

"Then sleep," said she, pointing to the grass bed. He was out
within seconds of lying down flat.

---------------------------------------------------------

This time he did dream, and when he woke he knew roughly how long
he had been asleep. Six hours, he guessed, but certainly not half
an hour and certainly not a whole month! Or even a whole day. As
he woke he luxuriated in the softness of the grass and the feel
of his body, seemingly healed from the long journey.

When he sat up, he saw Anna ten feet away, sitting on the grass
like a mermaid. She wore as before the shimmering pink robe. When
she saw him looking she at once turned away.

"Anna?" No reply. "What's the matter?"

At last she said, somewhat testily, "You've done your job. You've
carried me to the top. You're free to go."

"Do you want me to go?" he said softly.

"If you want to go, I want you to go."

"Oh." Without thinking about it in great detail, he realized full
well that he had no idyllic life to return to.

"I'd be delighted to be your companion," he said. But the moment
that word 'companion' left his lips, he knew that wasn't what she
had in mind. It was unmistakable, now he thought of it. She had a
crush on him. She wanted him to be her lover! Maybe her husband?

"Do you find me attractive?" she said, not looking at him.

Blood surged into Sisyphus's penis. "Yes," he said. "Oh, yes,
very much." But there was something vital to work out.

"When we started climbing, you were just a tiny girl. I was more
like your father than anything else. If I was a father, then we
shouldn't..."

"You weren't my father. You were just... the man to carry me to
the top."

Sisyphus paused. His erect organ was pulsing with desire. But...

"Maybe you were kind of like a father once, but the higher you
carried me, the more I grew up, the less you were like a father."
She paused. "The time I came out of the green place with the tan
robe -- I knew then that you were most definitely not my father."
She smiled, then covered her hand with her mouth and looked away.

"What?"

"I was plastered to the back of this big, strong man. I moved my
legs apart to plaster that place -- you know, that special place
-- right against your back. One of the bumps on your backbone...
And there you were right in front of me, breathing hard, moving
rhythmically."

Sisyphus smiled. She had turned his painful exertions into her
own pleasure.

Suddenly Sisyphus rose, folding his robe around him, and walking
over to Anna, offered his hand and pulled her to her feet and
straight into a full-body hug. They looked at each other and
began to kiss passionately. Sisyphus was aware of his fully erect
penis, pressing against Anna's stomach. She became aware of it
too, as she pulled back a bit, parted Sisyphus's robe, looked at
his organ, and smiled.

"But on the staircase it was always the wrong side of you. I
didn't want a lousy little nub of a bone. I wanted this!" She
reached down and put her hand underneath his stiff shaft, gently
lifting it up.

"That's what I want!" she said. "That's what I've wanted for so
long now! Can I have it? Please?"

Sisyphus gave a lusty smile.

The pink garment was quickly tossed to the ground and she lay
back on the grassy bed, legs spread wide and arms stretched out
to welcome him. That lovely brown hair, the pretty face, and
below... perfect little breasts, narrow waist, below her tummy a
little mound, with some hair, and below that a slit, barely
visible, but he knew what was inside. The wide-spread legs sent
their own message, as did her pleading, lustful smile.

Sisyphus's mixed feelings were entirely gone. He mounted, she
aimed him, and he thrust his penis right at that slit framed by
those little tufts of hair. He thrust once and nothing happened.
He thrust again and it just dented her skin in. Then he thrust
again, and his tip slid inside of her. He gasped. So did she.
Moments after his penis tip felt the hot wetness just inside
Anna, between her legs, it began spurting. Semen pumped out of
his body into hers, shot after shot. He lost count. But when the
twitches subsided, he let himself down on her. The delivery had
been accompanied by pure ecstasy. Now he felt pure satisfaction.
He had surely never been happier.

She was beaming up at him.

"That was way too quick," he said. He had seduced enough women to
know about sex.

"It was perfect!" said Anna. "You convinced me you find me sexy!"
She smiled.

They turned onto their sides and hugged. Within a minute his
penis was stiff again.

"Want to do it again?" asked Anna quietly. "I'd love to do it
again."

He craved that more than anything. He rolled back on top of her
and she guided him in once more. This time he got in an inch,
then two, and then three, and then began an in and out motion.
This was more like it!

"I'd like you to have a good time too," he said.

Anna said, "I'm having a fantastic time! I love what you're doing
and inside it feels warm and nice. I want your seed. I want more
of it!"

Sisyphus needed no act of will to fulfill that request. Nature
and his body did the job, and from it he felt delicious pleasure.

When he had caught his breath, she said, "I don't know much about
sex, but on the stairs, a few times, when things were just right,
I felt this big wave of pleasure up there on your back. You
already made me feel good the right way -- and you sure worked
hard at it!"

They rested, nuzzled, and kissed. He treasured his Anna. He might
well have felt lust for any other nubile girl. But having Anna,
it was far more than simple lust! After half an hour, he was
stiff again, and she urged him into her once more.

After recovering, Sisyphus noted something. "It's a sunset!" he
said, rising. "So maybe there's going to be day and night again!"

"I suppose so!" said Anna.

Sisyphus yawned. "I'm tired too," said Anna.

They lay down beside each other on the grassy bed, and Sisyphus
was out in a moment. He woke briefly and realized it was dark
out, but there was enough light to make out Anna asleep beside
him, chest gently rising and falling. He found it a satisfying,
peaceful sight. And then when he woke, the dawn was breaking.

Anna stirred, and before she even opened her eyes she reached
down to find the organ on Sisyphus's body that she now cared
about so much. It was not fully hard but far from flaccid. She
gently fingered it and it soon became hard. "You know what I
want," she said, still not opening her eyes, but lying back with
legs spread wide and smiling dreamily.

Sisyphus took the invitation.

That day they ate and drank, took baths, and peered over the edge
of the top of the mountain in every direction -- except where the
staircase was. They both instinctively avoided that direction.
They rested in the sun. But not many hours went by before they
were at it again, mating lustily the way humans mate.

There was another day, and then another. These idyllic days were
permitted, apparently, but Sisyphus feared it could not last. His
fate was to carry people up the mountain, not to cavort freely
around the top with a girl he loved, satisfying his desire
whenever he wished.

---------------------------------------------------------

When Sisyphus awoke, he could see nothing but dusty ground all
around. Fog blocked the view in all directions. As he walked
around to get his bearings, he realized he was on a flat circular
place, perhaps a hundred yards in diameter, that dropped off in
all directions. And at one point there was the top of the
stairway. He was at the top of the mountain.

Looking at the stairway, he remembered that he had done it! He
had carried Anna to the top. He had carried her all the way! But
where was Anna? What had happened? He remembered tumbling forward
over the edge onto green grass, with Anna tumbling over him. But
beyond that point he remembered nothing. Now there was no longer
any grass.

He had a vague sense that he had done more than just carrying
Anna to the top, something important, but he couldn't remember
what.

But as the minutes ticked by, he could not escape renewed
awareness of his fate. He was destined to carry a person up the
mountain, and as soon as he had done that, he must go down again
-- all the way down -- and he would carry someone else up the
mountain. After a weary sigh, he began descending. He noted he
was wearing a gray T-shirt and gray shorts.

Descending was much quicker than climbing, especially with no
person on his back. So while he encountered oases on the way
down, he skipped four out of five. He was still barred from
entering the green spaces, but he could drink.

Now and then he sat back in a stone seat and slept for a time --
whether long or short he did not know. After several of these
sleeping times -- he lost track of how many -- he reached the
bottom. "The bottom" was a semicircle of dusty ground centered on
the base of the staircase, surrounded by a low wall. There was no
one there. He could have easily crossed over the wall in several
places, but he knew it was not permitted. In one wall was a seat
indented into the wall, much like the ones on the staircase.
Without his next burden to carry, he had no instructions. He
slept for a while, perhaps a long while, perhaps short.

---------------------------------------------------------

When he woke there was a man, a servant by appearances. He didn't
answer questions, but he motioned Sisyphus to follow. There was a
stone arch set into the wall with a door in it. The servant
opened the door, revealing a verdant space that Sisyphus had not
been able to see from within the circle. Grass... Images rushed
back to him, vivid images of grass and all that had happened at
the top of the mountain. And there she was! Anna! She had a small
child on her hip. Sisyphus remembered everything and rushed
forward to embrace her, but she turned aside.

"I'm a married woman now," she said. "We only have a few minutes.
But this -- this is your son."

"Oh, he's beautiful -- how old is he?"

"He's just over one year old... Say hi to daddy."

The boy smiled and reached out to him.

Anna looked astonished, but let Sisyphus take him. The boy smiled
from ear to ear and then rested his head against his chest.

Anna said, "He does know you, somehow. He would never do that
with anybody else. That is so wonderful! But our time is almost
up..."

She smiled at him and he smiled at her. She said, "You did it.
You carried me. You carried me all the way!"

"Yes I did," Sisyphus said dumbly.

"I remember all of it. I treasure all of it, especially the part
at the end!"

"Me, too," said Sisyphus. He simply could not get himself to make
the word "treasure" apply to the climb. But as for the part at
the end, he most definitely agreed with that.

But he had a burning question. "How did you get down? I hope you
didn't have to use the stairs." He couldn't think of any other
option.

"A goddess put thoughts into my head -- at least I think it was a
goddess. I knew I had no choice but to leave you and walk to a
certain space at the edge. She made it clear that I could not
take you with me... I'm sorry... There was a chariot of leaves
and branches, and a soft bed of moss to sit on. I looked back and
saw that all the grass was gone. I had to get on the chariot, and
it flew me back down to the village I came from. My family was
delighted to see me, and I was married at once to a respectable
man and I'm very happy." Her smile seemed a bit forced, but he
saw no point in questioning her. "I'm carrying his second child,"
she said, looking at her belly. "Well, actually his first, but he
thinks the boy is his too and it's easier when I try to think of
him that way too. But you and I know better." She reached out her
arms and Sisyphus handed the baby back.

"And one other thought from the goddess was that what you and I
did up there was the right thing to do."

A jumble of feelings churned within Sisyphus, but chief among
them was simple joy.

She turned and walked away. When ten yards distant, she stopped,
turned again, and gave him a long look. Were her eyes moist? Then
she turned once more and walked through an arch opposite from the
one he had entered through.

Sisyphus didn't need any servant to tell him to return to the
dusty semicircle. As he approached the archway, toes wriggling
against the moist grass, he thought about the passing of time.
Had it been a year and nine months since they had been together
at the top? Some of those naps on the way down must have been
long instead of short. Very long.

---------------------------------------------------------

Through the archway, at the base of the stairs, there was another
servant, holding awkwardly in his arms a small girl.

"You know what to do," said the man, handing the girl to him.
This one had a lighter complexion, curly blond hair, and blue
eyes.

Sisyphus did know what to do. He sighed and put his right foot
onto the bottom step.

Something had just happened, just before, but he couldn't
remember what. He had been sleeping, and then someone led him to
an archway and he had gone through. It was lush and green in
there. His next memory was returning through the archway. But he
had no memory of anything between.

The stairway looked all too familiar. The last girl he had
carried was Anna. He had become very fond of her during the trip.
By the time they reached the top she was nearly a young woman.
His memories stopped the moment she tumbled over his head onto
the grass. He wished he had had a little time with her at the
top, to at least say a proper goodbye, but that was not his fate.
His fate was to descend all the way to the bottom and carry
another girl to the top.

After some time this next girl looked at him with a hint of
curiosity.

"What's your... name?" he said with a smile, as one foot reached
the next higher step, and then the other reached the one above.

"Sarah," said the small girl.

"I'm Sisyphus... I'm going... to carry... you to... the top."

"All the way," she said, with the hint of a smile.

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What did you think? I'm always eager for comments, whether
positive, negative or mixed. Comments to sterling27@live.com.