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!

Week 9: The Return

This story is  based off a continuation of my week 7 story
Additionally, it uses parts of a week 9 reading option

Days had passed but it surely did not feel like it. Roku has accomplished his mission of getting his father back; the five children from what he called "a surprised adoption" had taken his father away from him, and this was him getting them back.

Although he got his physical father back, he seemingly had not gotten his attention back. Ever since the day his children were taken away from him, Bryan had put his blood, sweat, and tears into finding out what happened to his children. Yes, he was given explanations to why they were gone, or taken away, but it did not seem right. Why would they either be doing drugs, running away, or writing death threats? They were so happy together, weren't they?

Bryan could not rest. He would do everything he could in his power to get his children back. Were they criminals by law? Absolutely. Were they criminals to Bryan? Absolutely not.

As heroic he sounded, nothing was working. He was not wealthy enough to afford bails for his children, so that was not an option. Sweet-talking the law enforcement keeping his children away from him was not either. So, like Roku, the root of these problems, he had a master plan.

That plan was to get in trouble with the law.

And so he did. One evening, while waiting by the crosswalk, Bryan spotted an elderly woman. He was trying to get caught, this was part of his plan; waiting for more of a crowd to form in order to be caught, Bryan prepared himself. The time came, and he snatched the ladies purse. The next thing you know, he was imprisoned.

Thankfully, his town had the organizational skills of a four year old. This meant that every criminal, regardless of the law they broke, was smushed into one building of confinement. You could have stolen a candy bar from a convenience store and had a third degree murderer as your roommate.

His plan was falling into place. He was able to find four of his five kids and get them in on the plan of busting out. He found out Roku was behind all of this; he had framed each and every kid.

Every day at lunch time one of the kids would sacrifice their lunch to dig a hole bigger and bigger until it was able to free them. Until one day, they were able to.

But the fifth child was still missing. Roku had gotten him to "run away." He was found at a homeless shelter, where Roku had told him that his father no longer loved him and was kicking him out. The pleasure on his face when he found out this was not true when seeing his father and siblings again was unmatched.

Now, it was time to get revenge on Roku.


--Author's Note--

I continued my story from Week 7 where a jealous biological son was prompted into getting the love of his father back after 5 children were placed at his door for his father to raise. Although these kids brought him a lot of joy, they did the opposite for Roku. Roku was able to frame them and trick Bryan in thinking they were forever lost, but Bryan was not able to let this go.

Additionally, I took parts from a week 7 story of the drona and princes to add to the "revenge" plot of Bryan getting his children back.

The kids and Bryan were in confinement

Week 7 Story: The Surprise Adoption

It was one of those warm evenings, where the weather was just right, all your favorite people were there, and you wish it would last forever. Except it really wasn't. It was pouring outside, and below freezing. The eldest son was complaining about not being able to go to a party, and work was really starting to stress out Brian out. But it was warm to him.

Oh, Bryan? He's a single father. Wife left him years ago with Roku, now almost twenty years old and still acting twelve. There he was again, complaining and complaining about how the weather shouldn't stop him from going to a party that was "inside, anyways." Roku didn't realize how much he was loved by his father, but it was probably because he did stuff like this.

The argument was disrupted by a deafening knock at the door. Who could be arriving at this hour, in this weather? He certainly didn't order take-out.

Brian went to go check, as Roku was still fixated on convincing his father to let him go to the party. He creaked the door open, but no one was there; then - he looked down. Five babies organized beautifully into a large basket with blankets enveloping them. He didn't have just one child anymore, he had six.

Let's fast forward a little bit, shall we?

Besides the surprise, confusion, and worry about what to do, Brian was actually content about the situation. He always wanted to add to his already minuscule family, and this was just bestowed upon him. Was his prayer heard? Over time he raised the kids on his own. He never had thought to figure out who dropped them off, because he had yearned for more company; and to raise a set of five as his own? This was a dream come true. He educated the children himself, was the best caretaker he could be, and they reciprocated this in the years to come. They grew older and older, completing high school just nearly. They loved him, and he loved them even more.

And they lived happily ever after.

Haha - no, not really, they didn't.

You see, Roku still exists, unfortunately. And he wasn't happy. To be the only child turned to one of six isn't a pleasant feeling. Sure, he was given more freedom as his father was busy all the time, but he didn't want that. He wanted his attention, his love; the freedom he was getting wasn't filling this hole. So he did the obvious - he got jealous.

He wanted to send a message that he had been waiting to send for the last couple decades after being essentially abandoned by his father. He was going to get back at them.

He had a "master" plan. He had already thought things through. Weed in the bag of the youngest son's, a weapon in the middle child's, death threats signed by the oldest son's, a "running away" letter from the youngest and oldest daughters. He wanted to get back at them, so he was going to frame them. He was shaking with joy after he completed his tasks.

It was one of those warm evenings, where the weather was just right, all five of your favorites were there, and you wish you it could last forever. And it really was. The sun was shining, all five of his "pupils" as he loved to joke with them, were there, a day before high school graduation.

The chatter was disrupted by an authoritative knock at the door. Brian got up and was met with several police officers; a warrant was shoved in his face and three proceeded in with handcuffs.

Crying, screaming, thrashing didn't help. The law was the law, and although innocent until proven guilty, for now, they were guilty just as much as they were innocent. All were in tears, except Roku. He giggled just far back enough where nobody noticed. He was so used to being not noticed anyways, right? Well not anymore. He got his father back, and this time for sure.


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Author's Note
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I based this story off of Mahabharata when Dhritarashtra raised five sons on his own and trained them as his pupils. In this story, as well, his eldest son became extremely jealous at the fact, and challenged them in many ways. I wanted to take a similar method of telling this story, and did so by telling it this way.

Based on:

Bibliography:
Link

It was one of those warm days

Week 5 Story: Truth or Dare

There is posted version on my site!

Sometimes when you are in the moment, you just get too ahead of yourself. When there's something that you want right in front of you - so very close to you, everything becomes a blur and you do everything it takes to get it.

It all happened during Jessica's Halloween party, the party everyone looks forward to all year. Super sweet girl, and also very rich. She's got a four story mansion with several pools, maids, and everything she ever wants. Even chill parents, who are letting her throw this party while they go out to dinner.  My parents didn't know I was going, but it was okay, I had the watch to keep me safe.

The watch I mean is one my grandpa gave me; it had the ability to do lots of things actually, including read minds, go invisible, and even super strength. I could use it if necessary.

The party went as usual; people got drunk, people played some "pong," people went swimming, blah, blah. The friend group was getting bored of the usual so we thought of something else fun.

Josh, Jessica, Paul, Maria, and me decided it was time for some Truth or Dare. Maria ended up picking dare and kissed Paul, even though she has a boyfriend. Paul wussed out and picked true, and he quickly revealed that he had been cheating on all his exams this year. Josh took a dive into a pool after daring himself, and Jessica, being the daredevil she is, took a round at the beer keg.

It was my turn, and all eyes were on me. Wanting to impress the crowd, I went for dare; I guess they were running out of ideas, because they chose me for the beer keg, as Jessica had just finished.

"Come on! Don't be scared, you chose dare you HAVE to do it. It was tons of fun, too!" said Jessica, wiping the beer residue off her own lips, clearly very drunk.

I have never drank before. How would this affect me? I'm not even 21, this could be so bad for me.

I went for it anyway, and took the biggest swig of my life. How did it go? Terrible. I puked everywhere and passed out, to keep it short. Things only got worse, however. The cops showed up at the door, demanding to be let in; they had come back for the fourth time after telling everyone to keep it down, this was their limit. Too dazed to use my watch for safety, I just let everything overwhelm me. This was the end.

Everyone scurried like cockroaches, as I was still too dazed to get up. This was it for me, I was underage drinking, my parents thought I was at a friend's house studying, and I was not feeling so good. I was going to get caught. Suddenly, Jessica came to the rescue; I tried to make out as much as I could, but all I remember is her, very tired herself, carrying me over a fence and taking me to her car where she kept me hidden and safe.

After I got to my senses, I thanked her again, and again.

"It's no big deal, a friend is a friend," she said.

I told her I owed her ANYTHING, anything at all. Whatever she wanted, she can have. I said this because I knew she already had everything, there wasn't anything she could possibly want, right?

"Okay. I want your watch," she quickly replied. I told her I couldn't give it to her, it was special to me.

"You said anything! You're not a liar are you? Not after I just saved your butt?" She angrily replied.

She was never like this. She was clearly very drunk, but I had to give her what I promised. I had to fulfill it. So I handed it over. It was clearly a stupid mistake, but we were both drunk and I suppose I forgot not only the power value, but the generational value of it, as it was in my family for decades.

And that's all I can remember. I'm laying in my bed wondering how the hell I managed myself to do that last night. Now, I need to get that watch back. But how?


--- Author's Note ---

I took my own story from the beginning story of Rama, where Rama's mother and taken care of Dasharatha one day and he, in return, said he would do anything she wanted after she had taken care of him while he was very ill. She requested that Rama be sent to exile for 14 years, and this was all just before he was going to get crowned as king. but in order to fulfill his promise on doing anything. This caused Rama to be exiled, all because Dasharatha had promised something and fulfilled it. I took a more modern approach to my rendition, and wanted it to make it more daring.

Everyone was having fun at Jessica's party

Story based on an online story of Rama: Sita Singles the Blues

Week 2 Story: The Citizens of Campus

There is a posted version on my site!

One boring day in class at the University of Oklahoma, a student was daydreaming about the possibilities of the world ending due to nuclear warfare. The thought scared him - he has so many plans for the future - and the thought of it all just suddenly ending due to a conflict between two countries, per se, made the thought unfair. Suddenly, there was a crash, a flash, and a shake.

"Oh no, there's been a nuclear attack This can't be happening now, I still need to graduate, to get married, and have kids!" screamed the now fully awake student. The first thought that came to his mind following his cry was to run, to run as far away as he could away from campus, a place where he dreaded being, and to get back home to say a final goodbye to his family and friends.

"What are you running from?" exclaimed another student on south oval as he ran past.  "There's a nuclear attack happening, we have to get out of here!" he yelled back at him.

The now frightened student followed - he, too, needed to say a final goodbye to all who he loved, and began running behind him. This lead to another student asking a similar question, then another, and another, until there were so many students running off campus that not even Dale 211 could fit them in to be counted. This alerted a tour group full of parents and their aspiring children.

"What is going on? What is the matter?" yelled the tour guide. "We have to run, there's been a nuclear attack!" said one of the plethora of students

The crowd of people grew - as the entire tour joined the group to get off campus. In the blink of an eye, faculty members, residents of Norman, and even the squirrels on campus followed the group. The thought of dying on campus scared them more than the thought of dying at all, they had to get home to say their finals goodbyes.

"Stop!" yelled a professor. "Why is everyone trying to leave campus, what happened?" interrogated the erudite professor. He knew understood a lot of things: nuclear physics, organic chemistry, how to start his own business, the cure to cancer; his graduate program had taught him everything, everything except why these students were running off campus.

"One of the faculty members said there was a nuclear bomb that hit campus," said a squirrel. "Don't look at me," said a faculty member, "a tour guide told me it happened," said the faculty member. "Don't look at me either, a student told me we were under nuclear threat," replied the tour guide.

After pinpointing the original, daydreaming student for starting the chaos, the professor asked: "What in the world makes you think there is a nuclear threat on campus right now? How is that even possible?" asked the professor. The student explained he had heard a loud crash back in his lecture hall. The professor asked to take him to the area at which it happened.

It was pouring as they arrived, and lightning filled the air. "Oh... it must have just been some thunder, but I had heard we were under threat for World War III in light of recent news, I read it on Twitter!" the student remarked, in an attempt to defend himself. "Just because it was posted on social media, does not mean it is true; the chances of that happening are much lower than you think", said the professor.

And the professor continued on to his staff meeting to tell the great tale of what had just happened. If he had not fallen into the misinformation like the crowd - they may have still been running.

---- Author's Note ----

This story is based on The Foolish, Timid Rabbit which has essentially the same plot - but a rabbit runs from a coconut after thinking the world is ending, where several animals begin to follow the rabbit after hearing of what was happening. They were eventually stopped by the King Lion who, like the professor, demanded to know why the rabbit thought what he did, which he then resolved.

I chose to target a very important topic that his prevalent today: misinformation. Anyone can fall into the pit of misinformation by using poor sources, or just being easily influenced. I took this to campus as it could possible relate to the students, as false information can spread easily in places such as a college campus.

Bibliography. "The Foolish, Timid Rabbit" from Jataka Tales by Ellen. C. Babbitt. Web Source.

After running around for so long, the people of campus realized the sound was just thunder