Week 11 Story: The Great Escape

Thunder rumbled over Green Village County Prison on one Wednesday afternoon. It was a calm day for most, except for the prisoners of course. It was rock mining day, and it was Jerome's least favorite. He envied his buddies who had managed to escape unnoticed last week. He was part of the plan to escape, but he got too scared to go through with it. It was his biggest regret, right next to stealing from the neighborhood baker's cupcake store.

He had an immense love for cupcakes. The sight of them, the aroma of them, even the sound of the -- well, we're not too sure what he loved about the sound but he SWORE they had a certain sound to them.

Anyways, it was the day that he had to pay rent for the payments he was behind on. He was a carpet cleaner, so he did not earn much, but he made sure to cut some of his earnings for a daily cupcake at the neighborhood bakery. One day he had not saved enough, and pleaded for a free cupcake, as he was a routine customer. The bakery did not budge. This angered him, and when the bakers had their backs turned, he stole a whole tray. Let's just say Jerome is not quite the athlete, so he was caught easily and quickly thrown in prison.

So, there, you know all about Jerome and his cupcake fantasies.

Even though the rock mining had gotten to him, he knew it was cupcake day! Every month, and for only one day a month, it was cupcake day. That day was today.

While dreaming about what flavor he might choose, he heard a thumping, shoveling, and rumbling. Suddenly, a large crack appeared in his cell, and a hole with three of his best buddies emerged. They were going to help him escape, but under one and only one condition: he had to stay quiet. The last thing his buddies wanted were to be caught themselves trying to save an old friend of their's. He agreed, and so they proceeded to escape.

Or so they thought.

Suddenly, the lunch lady appeared outside of the cell announcing it was cupcake day. Jerome yelped with glee, and expressed how much he was waiting for this day. The lunch lady noticed the hole in the cell and reprimanded Jerome, lengthening his sentence and cancelling cupcake day for the rest of his confinement.

The buddies had managed to escape. If Jerome was not going to listen to their only condition, he was going to be cupcake-less for the rest of his life.


--Author's Note--

This story is based on The Turtle Who Could Not Stop Talking, a Jataka tale. It was a story of how two geese wanted to show him their home very far away. Knowing the turtle could not fly, they offered to carry him by having him hold on to a stick with his mouth that they carried. They asked him to promise to never talk, and he said he would abide by that promise.

When flying over some children, they made fun of the situation of the turtle being carried by the geese; the turtle was upset by that, and he retaliated by speaking back to him, which meant he lost his grip on the stick and he fell.

I found that the basis of this story showed the reliance on trust, and how abiding in an agreement based on trust was between life or death in certain situations, such as the turtle's. I wanted to do a more humorous passage based on that Jataka tale, instead of the original, somewhat gruesome tale that caused a turtle to fall to his death.

It was cupcake day!