The gods who live on Mt. Olympus were very powerful. They were so powerful, they were perfect. No matter what happened they were always perfect; good judgment, helpful advice, always right. It was amazing. The people below however, weren’t powerful or perfect.

One morning on Mt. Olympus, Zeus was sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast and had a wonderful idea. ”I know, I’ll create the perfect family and send them down to Earth!” exclaimed Zeus, “What a wonderfully perfect idea”.

“What is a wonderfully perfect idea honey?” asked Hera. Hera is the queen of the gods and Zeus’ wife.

“I have an idea to create the perfect family and send them down to earth to teach humans how to act,” said Zeus.

“That is a wonderfully perfect idea. What is the family going to look like,” asked Hera.

“Well, the mother will have curly brown hair and hazel eyes as well. The father will have straight, short, dark brown hair, and brown eyes. The couple’s names will be Kathleen and Stephen Galluv. The children one boy 16, and one girl 14; the boy will be like his father, brown eyes and dark hair, brave and skillful at everything outdoors. The daughter will have straight brown hair and hazel eyes like her mother. She will be skillful at things indoors and around the house, also simple things outdoors. The son’s name will be George and the daughter’s Susan.”

That very afternoon, Zeus gave Hermes a message saying “All gods meet at the conference cloud in two hours.” The note must have been delivered to the gods because everyone was there, Aphrodite, Demeter, Poseidon, even Hades showed up. Zeus told them his idea and all agreed, and again even Hades, he never agrees with anything his brother says. Hermes must have woken Hades up when he delivered the message.

Happily, Zeus dismissed everyone and got to work. On his way back to the palace, he started piecing together the incantation to conjure his family. Zeus walked into his potion room and got ready. He took out four dove wings, eight rose petals, and a handful of earth, mixing them together over a warm fire. When the brew was perfect, he put the toasty liquid into a burning lightning bolt. Throwing it towards earth, he yelled, “Heart’s love, flying dove; send this family down from above!”

The lightning bolt hit earth shaking it to the core, no one was injured, but four strangers appeared along with a home and a pet dog. Two girls, two boys, the family had arrived! Happily Kathleen, Stephen, George, Susan, and Pudgy the dog strolled into the prettiest house on the block. “How lovely”, “Look at that”, “Oooo pretty”, “Wow”, said the Galluvs. They were very pleased with the home, especially Pudgy; he had his own huge doghouse outside and bed inside, lucky dog.

As the days went by, the Galluvs were working hard on meeting everyone in the area. Kathleen and Susan made many pies and cookies to give to the various families they would meet, while the boys hunted meat to give as well. By morning the next day everything was made and hunted down. After having a hardy breakfast to last throughout the day, the family got to work. House By house, block by block, they said hello to everyone and gave them both cookies and meat or a pie and meat. All day long the Galluvs were gone. Coming home famished, Kathleen made fried chicken for the family and a little for Pudgy too.

The next morning everything was perfect, they had a ton of new friends, crops were amazing, hunting great “How wonderful”, the Galluv’s thought. All the food was just what they needed for inviting friends over for dinner several times a week. What the Galluvs didn’t notice was how jealous everyone was of their perfection. Rumors of witchcraft, aliens, and gods on earth were spreading around. The thought of this scared the women of the village and infuriated the men.

One dark and stormy night, the men of the village finally cracked. They sharpened their axes and found their pitchforks on their way to the Galluvs home. Angrily the mob of men broke down the door shaking the entire house so much, things started to fall off the walls smashing into the hard wood floor and shattering into millions of tiny pieces. “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” yelled Susan, “Mommy!” Stephen pushed his family into the secret room beside the stairs to keep them safe locking the door so they didn’t try to help. Inside and outside the house all you heard was yelling and barking!? Barking, oh no Pudgy was in danger; quickly Stephen grabbed him and locked the dog in the room with the rest of the family. Suddenly, everything was silent, not a noise to be heard. Then, screaming, Stephen was yelling for help “Help, Kathleen help me!” he yelled.

Finding an axe in the room she wacked the door rushing to her husbands side. He had been beaten and stabbed several times. Not going to live he said” Honey, take care of yourself and the kids, I love you all”, as he died in her arms.

Crying, Kathleen rushed to the church dragging the priest to her husband. Father Leo dropped to his knees praying at the site of Stephen. Walking over to the lifeless corpse, Father Leo put a hand on Stephen’s forehead saying “Any sins thou hast committed during thy life are forever forgiven.” After Prayers and blessings, Stephen’s body was taken to be prepared for a funeral the next day. “Rest tonight and calm the children Kathleen” said Father Leo.

The next morning the Galluv family prepared for the ceremony. Arriving at the church, they saw many guilty faces sitting in the pews. Many apologies were said, but none accepted. The funeral lasted two painful hours. By the end of the funeral Kathleen, Susan, George and the villager’s eyes were red and wet.

Out of all the gods, Zeus was hurt the most. “Bring the family back, turn back time, don’t let this happen!” yelled Hera.

“No, I won’t. I made them strong,” replied Zeus. “I will hold another meeting to discuss this.” Zeus called Hermes and told him to get all the gods on the conference cloud in five minutes.

On the cloud, Zeus explained what had happened and asked what he should do. One half of the gods said, “Keep them on earth, you said they are strong, let them prove it.” The others said “Don’t let them stay, potions go wrong all the time.” Only one person didn’t vote yet, Hermes. To Zeus’ pleasure, Hermes said to let them stay.

“I shall give them one month on earth. Their actions will control their fate,” said Zeus.

Back on earth, the family was asleep, yet it was only eight o’clock at night. In fact all of the villagers were asleep. I guess a heart-broken family leaves a heart-broken village. Later that night, Kathleen had a dream remembering what Stephen had said. “Be strong.” “That’s it, I have to be strong,” she dreamed. The next morning, she woke the kids up with the smell of pancakes. Susan and George came rushing out to the kitchen, sitting at the table, ready to eat.

Before serving breakfast, Kathleen had a talk with the children. “Suzie, George honey, your father did a lot for us, but if he had survived, he probably would feel trapped inside himself. He wouldn’t be able to move or even worse, this was best. Now we’re all going to have to start doing more. George, you’ll have to teach us how to hunt, and teach Pudgy too. When we can’t go, Pudgy can go for us. Suzie will teach you how to sew your clothes together and cook simple foods. But we all have to remember to stay strong.”

When a month was over, the gods met again. “The family, even with no father, has managed to get their lives back together. It seems Stephen’s death has brought them closer together. They continue to hunt, harvest, and sew, but together they have taught each other to be a family again. I say they stay on earth the remainder of their lives spreading love throughout the village,” said Zeus.

The Galluvs stayed on earth and were honored in death. Because of strength, bravery, and love shown in this family, Zeus and all of the gods decided that when the family died, to send their souls up to the skies, creating three hearts, connected by beautiful shinning stars. So in this way, generation after generation will be able to see and admire the new constellation, known as “The Family’s Love”.