Psyche and Eros - Part Nine

Psyche journeyed deeper into the Underworld. She walked past a MacDonald's where the smell coming out of it made her want to try a big mac. She remembered what the tower had warned her about though, and controlled herself.

Then, there was a bakery, and that smelled wonderful too, and there was a Black forest cake in the window.

'Oh, wow,' she thought. 'I could really go for one of those.'

After years of dieting though, she had a will of iron, and was able to walk away from it.

She had to find her way to the Queen of the Underworld. She saw some flashing lights up ahead, and was sure it would point in the right direction.

'Come on into the casino young lady,' said a large muscular man in a black suit. 'Free meal and a one hundred dollar chip on the house with every suite.'

'What is this place?'

'It's a casino. Run by the seedy underworld mobsters. You might have heard about them.'

'Um, no. My first time here.'

'No worries. Just come in, have a seat at one of the tables. I'll get you a free drink.'

'No thanks, I'm only here for a short visit.'

'Yeah, right,' the man laughed at her. 'A joker in every pack!'

She moved on, looking for other places the Queen might reside. She went past a large group of people tied to stakes and having their backs whipped.

'What's this all about?' she asked one of the whippers.

'Ah, d'is is where people are brought when d'ey first arrive. D'ey get their inequities beaten out of d'em, so to speak. D'is geezers been 'ere fo' almost a year.'

'Really, what did he do?'

'Paparazzi.'

'Oh, got off easy did he?'

'No, he was only a paparazzi for a day. You should see what d'ey get fo' doin' it fo' longer,' he said with a nod of his head, and he was back whipping the guy.

'Um, can I ask where about the Queen Persephone resides?'

'Oh, you're one o' her friends I's expects, withs you being so pretty an' all. Just follow d'e main road here, untils you gets to a big sign D'at says “Palace” with a big arrows ons it. D'en, you should be able to follow the signage the rest of the ways d'ere.'

'Thank you very much.'

'You'se welcomes,' he nodded his head and got back into his whipping.

'I's loves d'is job,' he said to himself. 'Get to meet pretty ladies and also lashings of fun to be 'ad.'

'Will you stop it with that pun,' said the man getting whipped. 'I'd rather you whip me more than say that stupid joke again.'

'Okay, lashings of whip fo' ya matey!'

The man being whipped groaned at the repeated joke.

While walking along, a white rabbit raced past followed by a young girl in a blue dress.

'Oh, whatever shall I do?' cried the girl.

'Just try the MacDonald's a little further down the road. It's a lot easier than catching and skinning a rabbit,' Psyche called after the girl. 'Stupid bitch, that rabbits got hardly any meat on it at all.'