Zeus was three years younger than Mother. Zeus could touch the basketball net without jumping. Zeus hefted Mother on his shoulders after a winning game, spun, and spun until she was choked by her own laughter. Zeus had tattoos on his arms and legs but left his torso intact. Zeus didn’t sport a beard because he said a beard was stereotypical for a guy like him. Zeus wore green scrubs and changed sheets at the Garden Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. Zeus kissed his patients before he sponge-bathed them and put on their new diapers. Zeus had been working on his nursing certificate for five years and once again failed the exam this summer.

Zeus loved holidays, always bought gifts at the end of the season, hid them in the basement, and gave them to us the next year. Zeus told us Believe in Costco and have eternal life, so we went there each Saturday morning and turned free samples into breakfast. Zeus watched The Pink Panther with us, laughing and hiccuping louder than anyone else. Zeus thought Peter Sellers was one of the best actors ever fucked over by the Academy.

Zeus had diabetes. Zeus loved Pepsi. Zeus punched the table when Mother poured his Pepsi down the sink. Zeus had lots of friends, including the woman he helped jump-start her car and the girl he met at a coffeehouse. Zeus made Mother’s favorite panna cotta, but Mother swept the plate off the table and said she couldn’t live with another woman’s baby. Zeus wiped the tears from his face and said, They’re my blood, too.

Zeus snapped a man’s arm because he was curious about the strange mix of hair colors in our family. Zeus was cuffed by the police while all the neighbors watched from their windows. As he was shoved into the car, Zeus jerked his head and yelled, I love you, Mama! Mother yelled back, I love you, too, Dad!

Zeus lost his job at the Nursing Center. Zeus developed ulcers on his feet that gave off an odor like spoiled milk. Zeus moved in with another woman. Zeus sent us a picture of our new sister. Zeus was happy with the new mother because she let him drink Pepsi as much as he wanted. Zeus called Mother. Mother didn’t answer. Zeus called Mother again. Mother still didn’t answer. When Mother finally answered the phone, it was from the new mother.

Zeus was unconscious when we arrived at the hospital. Zeus fell into a coma, but his hair kept growing, long, frizzy, salt and pepper. Under the fluorescent light, his full beard gave him an intellectual look. We believed he had stopped aging like a real deity.

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Writing from Long Island, NY, Ann Yuan was a finalist for the Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2025. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in The Baltimore Review, Your Impossible Voice, Oyster River Pages, Gone Lawn, Moonpark Review, Eclectica Magazine, Bending Genres, Flash Fiction Magazine, and elsewhere. Her work has also been included in the Overheard Anthology and Iridescence Anthology. You can find more at annyuanwriting.com.

The title phrase “Zeus Himself Could Not Undo the Web” is drawn from “The Labyrinth” by Jorge Luis Borges.