[ WP ] Becoming a god .


 
 
 
 
 When Mary became god she left her husband and moved in with Frank. When Frank became god he stopped paying for Internet and stole it from coffee shops. When Mary moved in Frank told her they did n't have to have sex—but he would really like it if they did. She liked it too, so they did. They did this in Frank's room, and there was a picture of Mary and him back in High School about to go on a roller coaster and there was dust on the frame. 
 
 Mary's husband, now knowing he was god, decided to take it upon himself to get rid of god. He dove into the dark river and before that drank up a bottle of cough-syrup and codeine. 
 
 Mary ’ s children—now children of gods and gods themselves—took it upon themselves to follow Mary, to demand quarter in Frank's house, to which Frank agreed. They ate cereal of their liking, being gods, but Frank and Mary—not older gods, but older humans—gave advice that if they wanted to reign longer, perhaps they should ingest more fiber instead of sugar. Everyone agreed to this. 
 
 Mary took more baths because they were far more relaxing than showers. Frank watched Mary take baths because it was far more relaxing then staring out the window at the hopping birds. The children took showers because it was quicker, and this gave them more time to watch their cartoons and play their video games. 
 
 These gods, they were the first gods in town. Mary, Frank, the children, the dead god in the river, and the other former God. They had airs of flowers when they walked, of blooming something like imperceptible light, like fuzzy dandelion seeds barely floating. The whispering began. The people of the town began to worship these new gods, not in genuflection, but in daily thought. “ Those gods have something... these people breathe as though the air might run out. But not out of despair, or is it despair? ” They would go home and each talk of this new apartment full of gods with their blooming, what did they have? 
 
 Mary quit her job as a real estate agent and began a job folding clothes at the used clothing store. She folded them impeccably, in beautiful geometry. She stopped wearing makeup because she didn ’ t want to. But then sometimes she did want makeup, and then she did. And Frank liked it, and willed this to be true, and because Mary willed it that he liked it, she loved him in a way. All was good. Mary smiled when going to work. When folding she would give a hint of a frown, but never a real one. This was her way, she was god and this was the way things were. 
 
 Frank loved his job more as well. He sold Diesel Trucks to mostly white men in nice plaid shirts. Being god, he decided when or when not he would sell something. He decided he would sell a truck when the customer agreed to sign, and decided not to sell when the customer didn ’ t seem interested. He believed in this power, and sometimes he would even skip coffee in the morning. He would leave his coworkers and step outside to the parking lot where the sunrise rested in orange rays on windshields. Then he would walk back inside and adjust his tie, which was to his liking, the tie of a god. 
 
 The children were not mourners. Their late-father had taken it upon himself to be a hitter of women and children, although had also taken it upon himself to be a buyer of ice-cream and giver of piggy back rides. Their father had been a man of late night no shows, but also one of pancake making breakfasts topped with whipped cream and fresh blueberries—which they all loved. But, as they found out, he was only able to live as a man. As a god, he could not, which is why he drowned himself to death. He left bruises in his lifetime, and those bruises turned to scars. But so did the pancakes. They also left scars. So the children cried after his death, but being gods, knew they had control of what was next, and what was next was getting over his death and going back to school. They did. 
 The children now decided that they could understand Mathematics, and they could understand Poetry. So they did. They chose not to enjoy music anymore, so they quit band and choir, and they did not miss it because they chose not to. 
 
 As known, other gods would follow. Gary, district manager of the used clothing store, talked to Mary about the joys of raking leaves and later that day turned into a god. The next month he moved his family to Europe. Sue, from the Diesel Truck lot, became god after watching Frank look across the parking lot sea of orange for the 8th day in a row. She sat her styrofoam cup of coffee down on the floor and transformed. Later that week she stopped using blue pens and began using black. She stopped dying her hair black and let it grow blonde. This took months. Eventually she had hair white like fluorescent light. She said hello to everyone and looked them in the eye. She showed pictures of her dogs to people on the street, who were bewildered, but she knew it would be that way and chose for it to be that way. She chose to be happy when people were not bewildered. And it was good. 
 
 At the school, some classmates of Mary ’ s children became gods after talking to them about the joys of fiber over sugar, after the joys of choosing things rather than letting them happen to you. Even if you ca n't choose things to happen to you, you choose to let them. 
 Some of the classmates left school after becoming gods, left their homes and ran to their own fate. The parents of these children then became gods and some choose to be merry gods, drinking wine all day and eating to excess. Some perished into obscurity and some became rowdy Pans frolicking in the day and night, stumbling along the sidewalk and tearing at their hair because they could and wanted to. Other children became gods and decided to love their parents and that their parents would now love them too. 
 
 The days passed, and the earth rotated, and circled the sun, because all the gods wanted it that way, and if they did n't, they accepted the fact that maybe the planets themselves had free will under them. 
 
 The town surely became all gods. Emotions were intensified. Gods were murdered frequently. Gods fornicated frequently. Gods were generous to each other and no one was homeless unless they wanted to be. Gods were raped. Gods were avenged. The gods all walked like five foot giants.
