Week 2 Story: The Strength of the Son

In suburban America, there once was a boastful and arrogant father who prided himself of his strength. He lay claim to be the strongest in the neighborhood through his arm wrestling competition at their annual cookout. While many men tried, none could defeat him and therefore he claimed to be the Arm Wrestling King, a title he held with great pride. 

Two men arm wrestling. Source: Pixabay

As the man grew weaker over the years, he knew his son could seize the throne at the annual cookout. The mere thought filled him with fear, and he was well aware of his son’s impressive strength. To distract his son and preserve his ego, the father devised a plan to keep the adolescent away from threatening his title. On the day of the cookout, the father disguised his scheme by politely asking his son for a favor.

“Hey bud, I’m going to need you to drive down to the Jerry Mart and bring 10 cases of their finest craft beer. Be quick, we’ve got guests coming in 20 minutes.”

Without hesitation, his son replied, “Sure, dad. No problem.”

His father knew that the owner of Jerry Mart would be filled with rage to give away all 10 cases and his son would struggle to fit all the beer into the trunk. Yet, he was surprised by his son’s willingness to carry out the near-impossible task.

As the adolescent arrived at Jerry Mart, he realized the challenge ahead of him. He quietly snuck through the mart and stumbled upon the finest craft beer. With all of his strength, the teen plucked all 10 cases, bought them, and carried them to his car. While attempting to load all the cases, the owner, Jerry, approached him.

“I couldn’t help but notice you took all of my favorite craft beer. Normally, I’d be pissed but I’m impressed by your strength. You’ve been pretty creative too by sneaking around, and it takes some bravery to do what you did. Let me help you out.”

Within 20 minutes, both Jerry and the son arrived at the annual cookout. His father knew, then, that his son was more than deserving to be the next Arm Wrestling King. He had proven his strength, his wit, and his determination to succeed. And on that day, a new king was crowned.

 

Author's Note: I was interested in keeping key plot points and themes of the original story while changing the characters, environment, and the style of dialogue. Both stories employ a prideful king who's threatened by his son, but I decided to omit the original story's detail of the son escaping his father's wrath at a young age. Both stories have the father send his son off on a dangerous, near-impossible task to stop the son and preserve the throne. The admirable traits of the son were kept consistent in both recounts. I also kept the same plot twist in both stories with the major threat befriending the protagonist and assisting him in defeating the father. The characters and environment are completely different, and I adjusted the dialogue style to be more modern and casual in order to reflect these changes. Finally, both stories end with the son winning over the father, but my short story ended with the father accepting his defeat rather than dying of heartbreak.

Bibliography: "The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses" from Tayodhamma Jataka in The Jataka: Volume 1 translated by Robert Chalmers. Web source.