A March Tale

To anyone who found their way here looking for Neil Gaiman's Calendar of Tales: I'm sorry to disappoint you. This is just a random person online taking his idea and his questions, and doing her own Calendar of Tales. You're more than welcome to stay and read my stories too, though I have to warn you, I am definitely no Neil Gaiman.

Here's how this works: I asked a question. People answered the question. I picked one of the answers and wrote a short story based on it. One story per one month. Over the year that should add up to twelve short stories, a whole calendar of tales.
(I won't promise the stories are good. They're not.)

A note about this month's story: Historical fiction is not my thing. The extent of my research for this story was approximately a dozen Wikipedia articles (and whatever I still remember from my history and Latin classes from school). It is very much not historically accurate, at all. I apologize to any historian specializing in classical Rome who reads this.
Also because historical fiction is not my thing, this story is just plain bad. I apologize to any one who reads this.
At least you can't say I didn't warn you.
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What historical figure does March remind you of?
Julius Caesar - Beware the Ides of March (Answer from mom. Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 BCE)


It was Gaius’ favorite day of the year. His mother held his hand tightly as they walked down Via Flaminia towards the river, to not lose him in the crowd. His sisters weren’t much older than him, but they were allowed to walk on their own already. He should be, too, he thought. He wasn’t a baby anymore.

The sun was setting, and fires were being lit outside the tents by the riverside and along the road to keep the darkness and cold of the night away. The flickering of the flames made the air itself feel alive. The full moon hung huge and yellow on the cloudless horizon. Some people were cooking food over the fires, filling the air with the most wonderful scents of festival foods. The ides of March celebration had been going on all day, and a lot of the people were already drunk with wine. Probably had been for a good portion of the day.

Gaius’ mother led him and his sisters through the crowd to the grove, to leave their sacrifices and say their prayers, so that Anna Perenna, the goddess of the year, would grant the new year to be as good for them as the year before had been. Preferably better. Maybe this year father would take Gaius with him when he went to talk politics with his friends in the agoras. Politics was very important, he knew, and he wanted to learn. He had asked last year when he could go, but father had said in a few years, when he was older. But he was older now, so big already! Maybe this year he would take Gaius with him.

His mother put the offerings down and said her prayers to Anna Perenna, kneeling in front of her statue. He mimicked her, not wanting to accidentally do the wrong thing and anger the goddess. It would be bad for him if he did that, and it would be a whole year before her festival came around again, before he could correct the mistake. Anna wasn’t his favorite of the deities, but it was always a bad idea to get on the wrong side of any of them. On her pedestal the statue stared over their heads, her stone eyes hard and unforgiving.

After the prayers they headed out to find mother’s friends. Father was somewhere around here too, but he was too busy with his own friends. They were in their own group, leaving the wives and children to crowd together to form another one.

Gaius took in the festival as they walk through the crowd. The smiling faces, the voices that blended together until it was all a constant hum, occasionally intercepted with a scream of joy. The flickering fires were the only lights left in the night, dancing with the people around them. He heard some musicians a little ways off, their instruments and singing easily audible over the noise of the crowd. The sky was almost dark now, and the huge, round moon had properly risen. The delicious smells in the air made his mouth water as he realised he was hungry.

They passed a couple of older boys playing dice. Gaius hoped one of the other kids they were going to meet brought some. He wanted to play too. As they walked by, he heard an older man telling a group of children a story about Alexander of Macedon. Those stories were his favorites. He tried to stop and listen, but mother pulled him along, and he sighed. He would have to ask someone to tell him one of those stories tonight. Or maybe tomorrow.

They found the others. His sisters immediately scattered to play with the other girls, but mother was still holding on to Gaius’ hand. He stood still patiently for a little while longer, even though he itched to go off to explore whatever was nearby or play with the others. What he really wanted was some of the food mother and the others had brought, but he knew it would be a while before it was time for that. He could be hungry for a little while longer, if only he could go see what wonders he could find amidst the celebrating people. It didn’t take long until mother was so caught up in her conversation with the other wives that the grip on his hand loosened. He slipped his hand from hers and was off to a group of kids nearby.

“Hey, Lucius,” he whispered, tapping his friend on the arm. “Come explore with me.”

“I don’t know,” Lucius whispered back. “Mother told me to stay close.”

“So we’ll stay close,” Gaius answered. “I want to see if there’s something interesting around here.”

“Fine,” his friend agreed, and they were off.

They wandered around for a little bit, always keeping their fire in sight. They were excited to be there, but they didn’t want to get lost. The people were eating, laughing, drinking. Looking happy. Being among happy people made Gaius happy too.

After a moment they came to a small, open tent with an old woman sitting inside, the smile on her face showing the gaps where some of her teeth were missing. Her grey hair was pulled back with a scarf over her head.

“Hello, boys,” the woman called them. “Would you like to hear your future, from the Fauni themselves? To know if the year will bring you fortune?”

They glanced at each other. The woman made him a little uncomfortable, but Gaius was curious. The prayer to Anna Perenna earlier that night was still on his mind. He wanted to know if he’d done it right, and if he would have a good year.

“Yeah, ok,” he said, as he turned back to look at the woman. The woman smiled as they stepped closer.

“What’s your name, boy?” she asked.

“Gaius Julius Caesar,” he answered, unsure if he should be telling this stranger that, but at the same time trying to sound proud of his great family. The woman simply smiled.

“Ah, the Julius Caesar kid,” she said. “Yes, you’re destined for something big. Not next year yet, but later in your life.”

Gaius felt proud at that. He stood up a little bit straighter. “I’m hoping father will take me with him this year when he goes to talk politics with his friends. Politics is important,” he told the old woman. She laughed. There was something odd about the laugh. Next to him, Lucius shifted, uncomfortable.

“Yes, indeed,” she said. “Tell me, do you like the Ides of March and the festival?”

“Very much,” he said. “It’s my favorite day of the year.”

The woman laughed again.

“Well, you may change your mind about that before the end comes for you,” she seemed amused. Her words, and the way she said them made Gaius scared. Before the end? Part of him wanted to ask what she meant, another part wanted to run away.

“Can we go? Please?” Lucius whispered next to him, grabbing his arm and starting to pull him away. Gaius was about to agree, but the woman spoke again.

“Don’t you want to know your future too?” she asked Lucius, with the odd smile.

“I… N-no. Thank you,” he said, still pulling Gaius. Gaius let himself be pulled all the way out. He decided he didn’t like the old woman.

“Thank you,” he managed to call in, before he and Lucius hurried away. It wouldn’t do to be rude to someone who knew the future.

The woman had scared them both, and they knew soon the food would be ready, so they walked quietly back to their mothers. The happy chattering crowd now made Gaius feel worse. The difference between their joy and his fear was too big. Soon they were back safe with their group, and Gaius grabbed his mother’s skirts for safety. She looked down at him.

“Hey, my little one,” she said and bent down to look at him. She studied his face closely. “What’s wrong.”

“There was an old woman,” he said, and pointed in the right direction. “She was telling the future, and she said scary things.”

Her mother was looking in the direction he was pointing in with a stern look on her face.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I will go talk to her, and make sure nothing bad will happen to you.”

She stood up and walked in the direction he had pointed. Gaius was left standing looking after her. Someone handed him a wooden plate, full of something good on it, but he didn’t see it. It didn’t take long until his mother appeared again, returning to him. There was an odd look on her face, like pride and sadness at the same time. She knelt back down to look at him.

“It’s nothing, my little one,” she smiled warmly. “She’s just a crazy old woman. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

“But she said the fortunes she tells are from the Fauni,” he said, but his worry was already disappearing.

“People lie, sometimes, to make themselves seem important,” she told him. “Everything is alright. Nothing bad will happen to you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise,” she said, and smiled, and he believed her. “Now, let’s eat this wonderful food, ok?”

He nodded and smiled back at her. He was starving, and the food on his plate smelled delicious.