An Attempt at Allegory
Imagine this:
You're a child living in a very nice house on a relatively safe street. Your immediate neighborhood is pretty safe too, but the city overall isn't a very safe place. Lots of murders and robberies happen in your city. Where you live, however, has been safe for years because your father and mother worked hard and spent a lot of money to move you there.
Your father and mother haven't been getting along for quite some time now, though, and before too long, things end in divorce. Your father leaves, and in the settlement your mother keeps the house. You still get to stay in the neighborhood in which you grew up, and all your friends are still around, but they are sad your father left, as are you.
Before too long, your mother acquires a boyfriend, and he moves in with the two of you. Your mother likes him because he's very rich, and boastful, and charming. He says he makes much more money than your father did and will work hard to keep you and your family safe. But he doesn't seem to respect your mother. He expects her to clean up after him, to ignore his many lies, and to look the other way when he does business from home. He's friends with some of the shadiest characters from across town and has told them some of your family's deepest secrets. And he has actually insulted some of your neighbors and friends to their faces.
Your father respected your mother, at least as far as you remember. They split up the household chores between them, and he was up front with her when it came to how he was doing at work and how he was managing the family's money. He was friendly to most everyone in the neighborhood and sometimes went out of his way to help. But lately some of your neighbors have been coming to you with letters and notes they found that blew out of your trash on a windy day. The letters show how your father used to do anything - including hurting some people - to keep your family in its nice home, far away from the dangers of the city.
And now your mother's new boyfriend is talking about selling your house. He wants to move the family closer to his friends across town, taking you away from the friends and neighbors you've known your whole life. And from what you've seen in those letters your neighbors showed you, there may be plenty of people in the city who can't wait for you to leave your safe little neighborhood, so they can pay back to you all those bad things your father did to them.
What feelings does this story give you? How do you hope it will end?
I'll take a stab at continuing this. I used to write fanfiction.
ReplyDeleteSo, Mom tells you that there's nothing to worry about, and arranges for you to visit the school in your new neighborhood for one day. You keep mostly quiet, hoping desperately for the kids here to please not kill you. But after school, some of them corner you. You have a talk, and after some embarrassing mishaps, you realize that these kids don't mean you any harm. The kids know about your father, but they don't blame you for what he did.
You find out that dear old Dad is a major mob enforcer, tasked with ruining the livelihood of businesses that won't pay protection money. Mom's new BF, we'll call him "Chuckles," is trying to muscle in on some of that territory. Chuckles is somewhat of a bull in a china shop -- he likes to break knees and bust up property even when a more refined approach would be more effective -- but some noteable factions within the syndicate like him, so Dad can't just bump the guy off.
At the end of the day, you confront Mom with all of this information, but she says she's sure that none of it's true and that Dad only did what he had to do, and she chastises you for not loving your family enough.
The next day is Saturday. While Mom is getting ready for her date with Chuckles, you surreptitiously log onto her computer (Mom never figured out the whole "how to choose a strong password" thing) and read her emails. Turns out she knew about and was in on everything. You also learn that Chuckles' current objective is to put out of business a family-owned grocery market in the new neighborhood.
After talking it over with your new friend from the other school, you come up with a plan. You spend the rest of the day calling your friends in the "good" neighborhood. On Sunday, when Chuckles shows up at the market with some thugs ready to bust the heads of the store owners, he finds the store full of kids from both neighborhoods, many of them with cell phones out recording everything on video. Chuckles tells the kids to leave. They don't. For a while there's a stand-off. One of Chuckles' thugs sends a text to Dad.
Chuckles is about to get violent when Dad rushes in and pulls Chuckles aside. Are you crazy? he asks. Some of these kids have very rich parents who could make a lot of trouble if their kids got hurt. Chuckles is having none of it and wants to bust up the market, but when his thugs (who are considerably smarter than he is) defy his orders and walk out too, he does too.
The next day, Mom tells you that Chuckles' employer has transferred him to their branch office in Omaha, and that your family isn't moving after all. You and your friends from the suburbs resolve to keep in touch with your other friends from the city.