“Get out and never come back!” Darius exclaimed to his son Rory. Rory grabbed his shoes and a few things and stormed out of the house. His wife Sara and his brother Larry ran after him, begging him not to leave. Rory explained, “If my father wants me out of this house so freaking bad, then I’m leaving.” Sara and Larry agreed but would not stay in that house without him. Rory pleaded that his wife and brother stay at the house.
They hadn't done anything wrong. Why should they be punished too?
So off they went.
Rory, Larry, and Sara all started walking the streets of Chicago with nothing but their clothes on their backs, some sleeping bags, and a few dollars. They stayed in shelters and just tried to stay out of trouble.
One day they were passing a store and Sara spotted a pair of tennis shoes that she just had to have. She begged Rory, “Please, please, please! Can you buy me those? They are pretty cheap and mine are falling apart.”
I can't say no. I'm the reason why she is out here on the streets. She's so beautiful and caring. She deserves some new shoes at the very least.
There was a park across the street, so Rory left Larry with Sara to keep an eye on her in the park while he went to get the shoes. After a few minutes, Larry noticed Rory was waving for him to come into the shoe store. Sara was reading a book and Larry didn’t want to disturb her, so he left her in the park. What possibly could go wrong?
While Sara was reading, she felt a little tap on her shoulder. When she turned, she saw a sweet little girl. “Excuse me, lady, could you help me find my mom?” Of course Sara felt horrible for the lost little girl, so she put down her book on the bench and followed the little girl deeper into the park, hand in hand.
Little did Sara know, this was all a big trick. Waiting in the park was Rex, a well known pimp from the West. Rex was charming but very deceiving. Most feared Rex. He had come to Chicago to find beautiful women to bring back with him. Sara tried to run away but Rex had already grabbed her. As Rex was dragging her towards his van, Sara dropped her scarf to leave behind for Rory and Larry to find.
After a few minutes, Rory and Larry finally left the shoe store after bartering with the employee. Rory told Larry, "I can't wait to see the look on her face when we give her these shoes!" When they got to the park bench, they found Sara's book, but no Sara. They looked around frantically and asked a few people in the park but no one had seen anything. Finally, one elderly woman said that she had seen Rex take her. About that time Larry noticed her scarf laying on the ground. Rory didn’t know what to do except cry.
I did this. This is my fault. She wouldn't have been out here in the first place if it wasn't for me.
Larry tried to comfort him but it didn’t help. After searching for hours, they decided that they couldn't do this on their own. They walked to the police station to report what had happened. None of the officers seemed to believe them or care because of their homeless appearance. As they were leaving the station, frustrated, one officer, Jason, spoke up and told them he would help because he used to be a friend of their family. As he was grabbing his gear, Jason told Rory and Larry, "Stay put for today. Don't get yourselves into any trouble. I will send someone from the station to let you know if I find out anything."
Larry and Rory waited nervously back at the shelter to hear and finally after a few hours one of Jason’s buddies came and picked them up. They were scared something had happened to Sara but the officer said, "Unfortunately, Jason didn't find Sara."
Larry asked, "Well if he didn't find her, then where are you taking us?"
The officer replied, "Jason did find Rex, but it didn't go well. Jason is in pretty bad shape. He asked me to come pick you guys up and bring you to him. He has some information about where she might have been taken."
So he took them to the hospital to see Jason. Jason had found Rex but when he confronted him, Rex shot him and beat him up pretty bad. Jason ended up passing away that night from his injuries, but before he did, he told the guys that he heard Rex was taking Sara to L.A. The boys packed their few things and started heading West.
To be continued…
Bibliography
Author's Note
In the original story, Rory was Rama, Larry was Lakshmana, they were princes instead of normal folk in Chicago, and Sara was Sita, still the beautiful wife of Rama but she was a princess. Rex was Ravana, a demon, Rakshasa King of Lanka. Darius was King Dasharatha, still Rama and Lakshmana's father. Also, Jason was Jatayu, a demi-god in the form of a vulture that was a friend of King Dasharatha. In the original tale, Sita saw a beautiful deer that she wanted and sent Rama to fetch it (like the shoes) but the deer was actually a rakshasa trying to trick them. The rakshasa tricked Lakshmana into thinking that Rama was hurt and needed him, so he left Sita unprotected. Ravana disguised himself as a sage to lead Sita away and trick her. He then turned into his true self and fled with her (like Rex, the pimp). Sita dropped her jewelry secretly as they traveled to leave clues behind for Rama and Lakshmana to find her (the scarf). Jatayu tried to save Sita but ended up getting hurt and passing (like the officer, Jason). All in all, the story is fairly similar but was changed to fit a more modern scene and simplified to be an easier (and shorter) read. I chose this part of the Public Domain Ramayana because I have always liked the damsel in distress stories. I picked this image because it pictures the main conflict of the story (Sara being led away from the park bench and taken). I thought about ending the story this week, but decided to keep reading the Public Domain Ramayana (Part C and D) and see how the original story ends. So I guess we will all have to see how the story ends next week!
