| Part 1 of analogies, the Galactic Western Analogy By Papa,CM,Esu, Uncle Kibo Jan 19, 2011 - 3:50:15 AM | Email this article Printer friendly page  |
Ahoye!
I told you We were working on a story....
WARNING!!!!
This story is 8 pages long!!!!!!
WARNING!!!!!!!
Analogies, Part 1=
The Galactic Western Analogy:
Gather round, my people and i will tell you a story of everything being everything.
Not as long ago or far away as you might like to think, there was a place, a territory, if you will, called Nebadon. Nebadon was a glorious place and it was established and ruled by the great and wonderful Aton. Aton was one of the sons of the legendary and mysterious ruler of all that can be imagined and everything that is, who we affectionately call ‘The Old Man’.
Now Aton was just like the Old Man in that he was kind and considerate, just and fair. He made sure that everyone had enough to eat, a roof over their heads and clothes on their back. He gave work to all that wanted it and loved everyone like they was family. We were a happy folk back then. The harvest was rich and we were abundant in all good things.
Then, one day, Mad-Dog McGreedy showed up in the little town of Urindel and screwed everything up for the happy townsfolk. Oh, he did all kinds of bad things. First he got the men and the women to fighting over who was supposed to be doing what and then he did the same thing with the workers in the fields and then in the stores and the factories and the warehouses.
Well the sheriff got wind of it, so he and his deputies went to tell the townsfolk why they shouldn’t listen to Mad-Dog and how he was ruining our fair town. But Mad-Dog just laughed and told the people that they was living all wrong and that a man had right to do as he pleased and have whatever he wanted as long as he was willing to take it. It didn’t matter if it took away from others. They were just too weak and stupid to deserve it and they deserved what they got if they couldn’t get with the program.
Well, a big fight ensued and folks got to arguing about all kinds of stupid stuff, like who was better than who and there was a mess of shooting and punching and people getting thrown around every which way and somehow the sheriff went and got himself captured ( I think one of the deputies got confused and switched sides) and so they hung the sheriff, but not before he said he’d be back, because they ain’t seen nothing yet, and that he’d be bringing the Marshals with him when he did come back.
Well, they just laughed at that and pulled the lever and that was that, except for the fact that everyone saw the body fall through the trap door, but when it was over there was just the rope and no body. People murmured that maybe the sheriff was telling the truth of the matter when he said he’d be back and with the Marshals to boot. That was when Mad-Dog got really upset and got to howling and telling everyone that there was no way that would happen and from now on it was his way or the highway. He grabbed Sophie, the mayor and threw her in the jail, made himself the new mayor and the sheriff and told those that objected to kiss his rear end and if they kept objecting then he’d just shoot ‘em, or hang ‘em or whatever he pleased.
Well, things went like that for awhile and many people gave up hope that the sheriff would do like he said as the days went by and turned into weeks and then months and years. Lots of folks just shut their eyes to it and pretended that it was alright, just the way of things and they forgot what life was like before Mad-Dog took over. They just went along with it and some even took to it a bit as they kinda liked being able to lord it over other folks. So now folks were hungry and their clothes were all torn and ragged and many a folk had to sleep out in the heat and the cold and the wind and the rain and only the people that kissed Mad-Dog’s rear end got any work. Oh, those were terrible times, I tell you...
But there were those that never forgot what the sheriff said and that got ol’ Mad-Dog real upset, because he secretly worried that it might happen one day and he didn’t want anyone to know that he was awfully scared of that. So he hired him some people to tell folks that the sheriff didn’t say what they think he said and then tell them that the sheriff said something completely different and folks just nodded and said “Okay”. Mostly out of fear, I reckon.
But Sophie’s daughter, Maggie, she just wouldn’t shut up about it and she kept telling the people that they could just take the town back from ol’ McGreedy. He was trying’ to act like the Old Man but he wasn’t the Old Man and one day the sheriff was going to come back with Aton himself, the Old Man and a heap of Marshals and that they would set things straight. She told the people that they needed to be ready for that day and stop listening to Mad-Dog’s lies. Heck, for the longest time she was trying to get folks to gather and rise up against McGreedy and his boys, but all that changed one day.
One day, Maggie got up on her soapbox and told everybody who would listen, that the sheriff was back with a heap of Marshals, just like he said he would. They was camped just over the ridge and The Old Man Himself was coming and that when He got here everything better be the way it was supposed to be or the Old Man would have something to say about it, because He had special agents and all, that would tear Mad Dog and his boys apart if they were still hanging’ around.
Well, McGreedy told his boys to try to talk some sense to Maggie, but Maggie said she already had plenty of sense and that they should skedaddle before the sheriff decided to show his face. They roughed her up a bit on a regular basis but that didn’t make her change her mind.
It did make a few people wonder about it all so they decided that maybe Maggie was right and asked if they could help her out in any way. So she had them investigate what was going on in town and find out the truth of things and let the people know what was really going on because Mad Dog lied about everything and at every opportunity. He blew up the bank and blamed it on Indians and had everybody wanting to go out and kill the Indians. But some figured the whole thing was a little too convenient since the Indians had nothing to gain by blowing up the bank. But folks that said so were told that they were Indian lovers and harassed night and day, so people learned not to say anything about anything and just kept their heads down.
But Maggie and her people kept shouting all over town what McGreedy was really doing. Like the time he blew up the dam so he could buy the lowlands for almost nothing. He told all the farmers that if they didn’t buy their seeds and feed from him then they couldn’t sell in town. Then when the animals and people got sick, he blamed it on the farmers. He told folks that they had to pay him to keep their money in the new bank because it was his money and he said who got it and who didn’t.
Things went on like that for awhile and people were stressed out beyond all sorts of recognition and still Maggie was telling’ folks that the sheriff was coming’ any day now and they should be ready and woe be to those that helped out McGreedy just to save their own skins. Well, that didn’t go over too well with a lot of the townsfolk since they mostly just went along with things and tried not to complain. But some thought about it and started to complain on their own about what they were seeing. They didn’t want to be seen with Maggie and they didn’t put any faith in the sheriff coming’ back anytime soon, if at all. But they were getting sick and tired of McGreedy and his Mad Dog ways.
Then one day, strangers started showing up in town. They was asking a lot of questions about what was what and what was going on and how people felt about stuff and what folks thought ought to be done and why they didn’t do anything about it if they were so unhappy with it all. Mad Dog’s boys seemed to be pretty wary about these new folks and told people not to talk to them. They tried to intimidate some of them new folk but they just laughed and kept saying: “You’ll see.”
Then a few of them Marshals showed up and wanted to look at all of Mad Dog’s papers and business dealings and stuff and after a while there were charges of all kinds of awful stuff and then there were trials which seemed to go on forever. Maggie was telling anyone who would listen what was going on but McGreedy had told the townsfolk that the newcomers weren’t Marshals but revenuers in disguise and everybody hates revenuers so that just made what they was doing even harder. But they kept pushing and making charges and having trials and a few more people noticed but didn’t quite know what to think about it all...after all, they was revenuers and revenuers can’t be trusted for nothing.
Then Maggie told everyone that the sheriff was coming with the governor himself, Aton, and folks started hoping it was so. But Aton slipped into town during the night and showed up right in Mad Dog’s bedroom. I hear that gave ol’ McGreedy an awful fright! Aton told Mad Dog that he had a week to get out of town with all of his boys or they were going to have a showdown. Well, Mad Dog was no fool. He high tailed it out of town faster than you can say lickety-split and told his boys they should do the same. But his boys felt that they had nowhere to go and would rather fight it out. McGreedy told them good luck and left to go work out a deal with Aton that would keep him out of jail and away from the hangman’s noose.
Now Mad Dog had a son who was worse than him in everyway because he was so stupid like. He was real partial to lording it over folks and saw no reason why he should quit, governor or no governor. He did his best to keep things going like he learned from his pa, but he just didn’t have the sense to do it as good, so he decided to tell his boys to keep the folks in line by shooting anyone that got out of line. That worked for a few days but folks were getting mighty upset.
Aton slipped into lil’ Mad Dog’s bedroom and scared him half to death, too. He told him that he had three days to hightail it or there’d be a showdown. Junior thought the best of it and said that, rather than a big shootout where folks could get hurt, why not call the whole thing down to a friendly game of cards, no holds barred with all cards face up? He said that Aton could even use his own deck, as long as it wasn’t marked. Aton said that it didn’t matter since there was only one deck of cards to be found anywhere and they had been divvied out as tokens.
Seems that there was a token for every body in town, it was kind of like proof of life. All those tokens had been put on cards and that was the Old Man’s deck. The Old Man, long ago, gave everybody their cards and told them that whoever they had enough faith and trust in to work for, that person would own and hold their card. He was figuring on getting every card back, one way or another, but was thinking it was best that people just gave their card to him of their own free will. He was only interested in the faith and trust. He let folks keep their power so they could do their jobs. Mad Dog wanted it all. Since folks could only work for whoever held their cards, them cards was pretty valuable.
So the deal was set for Saturday night. Lil’ Mad Dog would show up with all the cards he had and Aton would come with all the cards he had. Junior felt that he had way more cards than Aton and that would keep the town for him. The only thing that could beat him was if Aton had both jokers. Those jokers were wild cards, trump cards, and one was as good as half the cards of the opponent of him that had it. To have both jokers and just one card in your hand would win any game.
But nobody had ever seen either one of those jokers since before anyone could remember and they was considered lost, so McGreedy Junior felt he had no worries at all.
Aton knew that one of the jokers was somewhere in town and he knew who had it but he couldn’t just go up and ask for it and he couldn’t just take it. All he could do was wait to see how things turned out. That was the black and white joker, the little joker. The big joker, or colored joker’s location was a secret and he knew that secret. All he had to do was get the one who held the lost joker to give it to him and the game was won.
In the meantime, Maggie started telling people about the big game and how everything depended on it and folks just couldn’t wrap their heads around it. All the people that believed Maggie kept trying to talk to people about the sheriff and the governor and the Marshals and even the Old Man coming to town and some folks listened and some cussed them out and some got scared and some didn’t care and all the while, lil’ Mad Dog was having his boys go around town and just take any cards they found on anybody, whether they liked it or not. Most folks just gave up their cards without a fight, but some fought back and went looking around for Aton to give their cards to. Some found him and some went to Sophie to ask where he was and either found him then or left their cards with her to give to him.
Some gave their cards to Maggie, or tried to anyways, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She said that if they wanted to give their cards to Aton then they should call out so he could find them. But juniors boys would try to beat on anyone who called out, so some were feeling a might fearful about that, while some didn’t mind fighting about it at all. So Maggie told them to come to the game beforehand and give their cards to Aton when he showed up, just to be sure and some decided to do just that and they waited. But there was still no sign of the lil’ joker.
About a day or two before the game, junior’s boys were beating up on the town drunk. Seems he liked Maggie and had no problem telling people that she was right about things and then some. People called him crazy because they took his house away and he decided to live in a tree...when he was sober enough to climb up. But he would be up in that tree screaming out “ATON! ATON!”, late at night and keeping folks up so they couldn’t get to sleep. People laughed at him or just avoided him outright. He said he didn’t want to work for none of them anyway, especially ‘Dead Dog’ as he liked to call lil’ McGreedy. So junior had his boys beat him up whenever they had nothing better to do.
One night, while he was screaming for Aton, Aton climbed up the tree to sit with him and they talked and the drunk said he wanted to meet the Old Man, so Aton took him to meet the Old Man, over the ridge, and they talked and the drunk gave the Old Man his card and told him “Thank you, but maybe this would be better off in your hands.” And it turned out to be the little joker. They both smiled to each other. The Old Man and Aton asked the drunk if he wanted anything and the drunk said they should run them varmints out of town....and he wanted his house back.
So Aton told him that as soon as he won the game, it would be so.
“Well when is that gonna be?” Asked the drunk...”Some games seem to go on forever...”
Aton told him by the stroke of midnight it would be over.
“All of it?” Asked the drunk.
“All of it.”, was the reply
The Old Man asked the drunk what he used to do before he was a drunk and the drunk said that he couldn’t remember. The Old Man asked him if he wanted to work for him. “Doing what?” Asked the drunk. “Whatever I tell you.” Said the Old Man. The drunk looked the Old Man square in the eye for a minute and smiled. “Yeah, you’re a good one. I can do that, or I’ll give it my best shot.”
The Old Man smiled and gave the card to Aton and told the drunk “You still do what I tell you, but you do what he tells you, too.” The drunk replied “He looks about as good as you, I reckon. It’s all the same to me.”
The night of the game, lots of folks showed up but most of the townsfolk were fast asleep in their beds. Aton arrived at sundown, along with the sheriff, but lil’ Mad Dog stalled and stalled until he couldn’t stall anymore. His own men were starting to feel that he was scared to go and he was, but he wasn’t going to let them know that. He told his boys to arm themselves to the teeth and when he won the game, they should kill everyone. Someone asked what they were supposed to do if he lost.
Junior turned a cold eye to him and shot him dead. “I ain’t gonna lose.” He said as he headed out the door. “But if I do....kill ‘em all anyway.”
Lil’ McGreedy showed up at a quarter to midnight. The drunk had bet the preacher that the whole thing would be over by midnight, so he was mighty upset. “Hurry up and get on with it!” He yelled. “I want my house back and i bet the preacher here that you were going down in flames, so hurry up and burn you no good varmint!”
McGreedy smiled at the drunk and snarled. “You ain’t ever gonna see that house ever again, lover boy, one way or another.”
Before the drunk could throw a cuss back, Aton smiled and said: “Are we gonna play or would you two like to dance?”
McGreedy shot him the evil eye and snarled. “Let’s get on with it then! I’m gonna send you and them damn revenuers packing!”
“Them ain’t revenuers, Junior.” Aton said, smiling. ‘They’re my accountants and they can account for everything you’ve done since before you were born. Every mean kick in your mama’s belly is on record. So is everything you’ve done to these good folks here and I means to set things straight once and for all. Now sit your fat ass down and lay out your hand so we can get this over with. Time’s a wastin’.”
Well, lil’ Mad Dog did just that. He laid out so many cards there was hardly room for them all! He smiled and reared back in his chair, laughing: “No way can you beat that! I got more cards than anybody and I know it!”
Aton just smirked and laid his cards on the table. They were way less than what Junior had. Junior smiled and laughed even harder. “Well I guess you and your boys will be heading out now, I reckon. Thanks for visiting and don’t let the saloon door hit you in the ass on the way out.”
Aton reached into his chest pocket and threw one more card on the table. It was the little joker. A gasp went out from everyone in the room. It was the first time any of them had ever seen a joker. Even McGreedy stared at it with his mouth open in shock and awe. But he collected himself and decided to light a cigar. “Well,” He said, blowing smoke in Aton’s face. “You and I both know that ain’t enough to beat me.” He said, blowing smoke in Aton’s face. “I just got too many cards for you and since you don’t have the big joker, I guess this game is aaaaallllll mine.”
“Then maybe this will help.” Said a voice from the back of the room. It was the Old Man, who had snuck in quietly through the back door. The Old Man pulled out a card from his chest pocket and flung it clear across the room to land on the table next to the lil’ joker, but it landed face down, just as the clock started to chime the midnight hour.
There was a silence in the room from all attending, so thick you couldn’t shoot a bullet through it. All that could be heard was the tolling of the bells of the clock, counting down to the twelfth and final ring.
“DAGNABIT!!!” Screamed the drunk.
“You hush now, Ben.” Said the Old Man quietly. “You’re still getting your house back.”
“But I lost a bet with this dang uppity preacher!”
“Oh, I don’t think the good reverend’s gonna hold you to it. In a moment he’s gonna have enough problems of his own to consider.”
The preacher gulped.
Mad Dog stared at the card as beads of sweat started to creep out of his skin and slide down his face to land upon the table.
“N-Now, Old Man”, He stammered, “You ain’t got no cause to get mixed up in all this. This is all between me and him. Plus I’ve got me some unfinished business with that magic act sheriff of yours. Besides, that card didn’t even come from here. I got everybody’s card that he ain’t got. There’s nobody left. I knew that damn drunk gave you his card, but i didn’t think it was a trump card like that. We kept beating’ him up but could never find where he hid it. Should’ve just killed him when I had the chance, but who gives a hang about a crazy ol’ drunk living in a tree?
There’s no way this card is the other joker. You’re just bluffing and I don’t take kindly to bluffs. Besides, unless that card came from somebody in town, that’s cheating and I don’t take kindly to cheaters in my town. Maybe you all should just pack up and leave now, while you still can.”
The Old Man just laughed and walked up to the table.
“You’re playing my boy. You go up against my son, you go up against me. Any decent and good father would tell you that...OOOH, that’s right, your daddy done gone and hightailed it out of town leaving you high and dry. Tsk, tsk, that’s a shame. I can assure you that that is my boys’ card and it did come from here. Now...you can take my word for that or you can just ask everyone here who’s card that is. I’m sure they’re still around here somewhere....”
“WHOSE CARD IS THIS!?” Screamed Junior. “What no good, ungrateful, good for nothing, soon to be dead piece of crap, gave that card to Him!?”
“That’s my card, you no good, good for nothing snake!”
It was Annie.
Annie ran the saloon. She was beautiful and sweet and McGreedy always wanted to have her. She never liked him, though. Nope, not one bit.
“A-Annie..." Stammered McGreedy. "I always loved you, you know that. I gave you everything. Hasn’t this place been good to you? Haven’t I been good to you? How could you betray me like this?”
“Betray you?’ Annie laughed. This used to be a great place, a wonderful place, a respectable place. You turned my girls into whores and my hotel into a whorehouse. You turned my parlor into a bar, filled with bad liquor. You turned my library into a gambling house and YOU BEAT UP MY HUSBAND SO BADLY THAT HE PLUM FORGOT WHO HE WAS AND TURNED HIM INTO THE TOWN DRUNK! YOU TOOK OUR HOUSE AND I WANT IT AND HIM BACK!!!”
“Annie, how could you love a man like that over me? He was just a stinkin’ piano player! He made his living making up stories for folks to listen to. What kind of life was that for someone like you? I would’ve given you everything!”
“You had nothing I wanted! You want to know why I love him so much? Go ahead, turn that card over! You’ll see!”
Mad Dog just stared at the card, mumbling to himself...”No, it couldn’t be. It can’t be. Not her. Why didn’t I see it? I didn’t know. Nobody told me.........How could I have been so blind?”
The Old Man put a hand on Aton’s shoulder. “Go ahead son, show him what the truth of the matter is.”
Aton reached out and flipped over the card. Sure enough, it was the big Joker, the trump of colors.
Junior let out a long mournful scream and reached for his gun. His boys did the same. The next thing they knew, they were surrounded by so many clicking guns aimed right at their heads that they couldn’t count them all. It was the sheriff, the Marshals, the accountants and most of the townsfolk that were in the saloon. You didn’t really notice most of them before that, unless you knew they were there. Even now, folks talk about how they just kind of magically appeared.
Aton smiled at McGreedy. “Well, you know what comes now, I reckon.”
“I reckon.” Snarled Junior
“Ah well” Said the Old Man.
Mad Dog just stared a moment in disbelief. He slowly raised himself up out of his chair and just stood there with a sort of blank look on his face.
“Might as well say it.” Said Aton, smiling. “You know the rules.”
McGreedy gritted his teeth as the words he knew he had to say started to form in his throat, reluctantly moving towards recognition through his still tight lips...”So be it.” The words finally came out and it was all over.
The sheriff went to put the cuffs on Junior, but at the last moment, Mad Dog stayed true to his low down, conniving self and went for his gun instead.
That’s when all hell broke loose. Aton, Mad Dog and the sheriff went at it left and right and toe to toe and head to head, spilling out of the saloon and into the streets. Aton would slam Junior’s face with his fist, knocking him back into the waiting fist of the sheriff, who slammed him right back. Junior’s boys had their hands full with the Marshals and accountants. The townspeople on the winning side knew full well who the townsfolk on the losing side were and they went at it with full force. Maggie and her people went and let Sophie out of jail and locked up whoever was thrown their way during the battle.
Annie threw a rifle to Ben as well as a great big hug and a kiss. That seemed to lift the fog right off of him and he remembered everything. He ran up to the roof to take shots at anybody that tried to sneak up behind Aton or the sheriff or Maggie or Sophie or Annie, who was out there with her girls getting some big payback. The Old Man just went behind the bar and poured himself a drink of the good stuff while he watched and waited for the inevitable outcome. Yes, it was quite a night!
By the time the sun started to rise, it was over.
McGreedy was pretty banged up, bruised, bloody, broken and handcuffed around a tree. He kept screaming that he was right and it was his right to be in charge and they better kill him because he was gonna be back and give everybody what for....They never could get him to see reason...so they hung him from that very tree. It was a shame that he left us no choice in the matter. In fact he downright insisted upon it.....
Most of his boys lived through the long night. They ended up in jail or tied up out back. The hard-sleeping townsfolk woke up to find that everything had changed overnight and they had a hard time believing what they was told had happened. The ones that helped Mad Dog the most willingly, knowing what they were doing to folks, got put in jail with the rest. Some folks left town. Some folks got run out of town. Some folks stayed to help rebuild and build the town up... some folks got hung and some went to jail for a spell or two, depending. But Maggie and her folks were feeling pretty good about the whole thing and had a big shindig to celebrate the fact that the evil thug varmints were finally gone for good!
In the end, Urindel became a model town, a paradise of sorts. The saloon went back to being a hotel and restaurant. They added a stage for plays and concerts and stuff. Ben and Annie got their house back and lived happily ever after. Sophie and the sheriff got hitched. Folks were glad to see the sheriff again and have Sophie back as mayor.
Maggie and her folks went to work for the mayor to help plan the town expansion. Once again, life was good and there was enough for all.
Everyone had work and food and shelter and good times was abundant. Aton turned the sheriff’s office into a Marshal’s office so the sheriff now had both jobs but they was really the same job but folks felt more secure about everything being that way. We gave the bank to Aton and his accountants and now it’s a bank and a branch office for the governor.
The Old Man has a special room at the hotel that’s just for him to stay in whenever he’s in town. He has all of his cards back in one deck again. Guess he’ll divvy them out again one day but we’re all free now and the power of our tokens has been given back to us that live here so we’re not attached to cards no more, so we don’t have to play if we don’t want to. Them that want to play can ask for new cards and go out into the great wide world to seek their fortune. There are still other places where there are other Mad Dogs to contend with, but those days are over for Urindel, in fact, we’re thinking of changing the name of the place........how does Gaia sound?
Good Night Good People
All Good Blessings Be Upon You!
May the Dawn
Find You Awake and Ready
To Seize The New Day!
PAPA/CM/ESU/Uncle Kibo
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