LEGACY - The Writings of Scott McMahan

LEGACY is a collection of the best and most essential writings of Scott McMahan, who has been publishing his work on the Internet since the early 1990s. The selection of works for LEGACY was hand-picked by the author, and taken from the archive of writings at his web presence, the Cyber Reviews. All content on this web site is copyright 2005 by Scott McMahan and is published under the terms of the Design Science License.


CONTENTS

HOME

FICTION
Secrets: A Novel
P.O.A.
Life's Apprentices
Athena: A Vignette

POEMS
Inside My Mind
Unlit Ocean
Nightfall
Running
Sundown
Never To Know
I'm In An 80s Mood
Well-Worn Path
On First Looking
  Into Rouse's Homer
Autumn, Time
  Of Reflections

Creativity
In The Palace Of Ice
Your Eyes Are
  Made Of Diamonds

You Confuse Me
The Finding Game
A War Goin’ On
Dumpster Diving
Sad Man's
  Song (of 1987)

Not Me
Cloudy Day
Churchyard
Life In The Country
Path
The Owl
Old Barn
Country Meal
Country Breakfast
A Child's Bath
City In A Jar
The Ride
Living In
  A Plastic Mailbox

Cardboard Angels
Streets Of Gold
The 1980s Are Over
Self Divorce
Gone
Conversation With
  A Capuchin Monk

Ecclesiastes
Walking Into
  The Desert

Break Of Dawn
The House Of Atreus
Lakeside Mary

CONTRAST POEMS:
1. Contrasting Styles
2. Contrasting
     Perspectives

3. The Contrast Game

THE ELONA POEMS:
1. Elona
2. Elona (Part Two)
3. The Exorcism
     (Ghosts Banished
     Forever)
4. Koren
     (Twenty
    Years Later)
About...

ESSAYS
Perfect Albums
On Stuffed Animals
My First Computer
Reflections on Dune
The Batting Lesson
The Pitfalls Of
  Prosperity Theology

Repudiating the
  Word-of-Faith Movement

King James Only Debate
Sermon Review (KJV-Only)
Just A Coincidence
Many Paths To God?
Looking At Karma
Looking At
  Salvation By Works

What Happens
  When I Die?

Relativism Refuted
Why I Am A Calvinist
Mere Calvinism
The Sin Nature
Kreeft's HEAVEN
A Letter To David
The Genesis
  Discography


ABOUT
About Scott
Resume
Athena: A Vignette
 

Athena had always said it was bad enough when the immortal gods went from being a relevant part of everyday life into a myth, but now even the myths were forgotten. Anymore, the kids did not even read about the mythologized exploits of the old gods, let alone allow them into their lives. When the times got tough, the tough did what they had to. She had seen the curtain descending when they started calling her Minerva: definitely time to wise up and smell the coffee. She was marginalized. She had been in Athens, moping, when a certain man named Paul had breezed through and claimed to know who the unknown God was; and how God had overlooked ignorance of himself in the past, but was now calling on all to repent. Having nothing better to do, she thrust her hands into her empty pockets and went off in search of this unknown God, and found a new life where she could use her skills as an immortal to help mankind once more, only in a slightly different way.

Athena took off her reading glasses and rubbed her eyes. The stack of papers on her desk threatened to fall over, and a part of that old Olympian spark in her wanted to assist gravity with a mighty shove. Those were days she was better off forgetting. Olympia was no more, and now she had a new job, in the City of God. All things considered, she had landed on her feet, and was enjoying the unique challenges of working for the kingdom. But a part of her yearned for the old freedom. She liked to smell salt air, and feel the wind in her face. A long time had passed since she had sailed on the ocean. She'd been indoors too much recently, doing paperwork. She stood up and stretched. Her body still felt young, and supple, but she got tired now, and her eyes weren't as good as they used to be. Her fingers ran through her long, curly black hair. At least, she thought, she could be herself, and not have to adopt any other guise. She liked people getting to know her as herself, and not having to pretend to be someone else.

She padded over to the sofa and sunk down on it, watching the flames in the fireplace. She drew a pillow into her lap, and laid her head back. Her eyes closed. Her toes played with the tassels on the fringe of the throw draped carelessly over the arm of the sofa. She was almost asleep, snug in her room. She absently pulled a blanket over her legs. Such a small room, but no bigger than she needed. The days of marble temples were long gone. A big, stuffed owl sat in the wingback chair in the corner, which someone had given her one Christmas as a joke. Now, the owl seemed like an old friend. Bookcases and filing cabinets, and a big desk, finished the apartment.

A knock. "Come in," Athena said sleepily. She yawned, wondering if she actually had fallen asleep. The man at the door was one she had known for aeons now, the Son, the one who had taken in a marginalized and confused immortal and given her a reason for living. She looked up with a smile, which he returned. He had a folder under his arm.

"Time for another mission!" The man picked up the stuffed owl, and sat down in the chair. He placed the owl down in the thick carpet at his feet.

"Again? I haven't finished the paperwork from the last one," Athena said, looking over at her desk. "My angel friend came by again asking for it. I need a secretary!" She gave a mock sigh of consternation, and then laughed, sitting up on the sofa.

The man got more serious, with the firelight reflecting off his bright eyes and white clothing. "You have all eternity to wrap up the documents. But the earth does not have much time left. I have a case where a young man needs your peculiar blend of charm, warmth, and a kick in the pants."

Athena snorted. "The poor kid." Some people found Athena's directness hard to take, and others welcomed it. If only the kid had a thick enough skin and a quick enough ability with riposte, he'd be okay.

The man smiled. "I am afraid the limitations of time preclude the gentle approach in his case. You have about a month to convince him to trust me." A short time. The recent cases he'd given her all seemed to have shorter and shorter time frames. "He's the sort who needs a little friction to make any progress."

She always got that kind. "What's his story?"

The man got up and smiled, and picked up the owl and threw it at her. As she caught it out of the air and hugged it to her, he said, "This time, you'll be there to find out." He handed her his folder, and let himself out.

Her chin rested on the pate of the owl. She felt the softness of her stuffed friend. First things first, she'd have to pack. Looking at the brief, she saw it would be late autumn, and cold.

Author's note: This was originally supposed to be the beginning of a longer story, but the rest of the story never came. The original inspiration was a picture in my mind of Athena sitting at a desk, taking off her reading glasses. This image never developed into a story.


All content on this web site is copyright 2005 by Scott McMahan and is published under the terms of the Design Science License.

Download this entire web site in a zip file.

Not fancy by design: LEGACY is a web site designed to present its content as compactly and simply as possible, particularly for installing on free web hosting services, etc. LEGACY is the low-bandwidth, low-disk space, no-frills, content-only version of Scott McMahan's original Cyber Reviews web site. LEGACY looks okay with any web browser (even lynx), scales to any font or screen size, and is extremely portable among web servers and hosts.

What do christianity christian philosophy world religion world view creative writing design science license fantasy mystic mysticism fiction prophet prophecy imaginative fiction poem poetry book of poetry book of poems seeker meaning truth life death bible sub creation story imagination mythos calvinism reformed theology have in common? Anything? You'll have to read this site to find out!