Week 11 Story Friday Night Blues

Dimly lit bar Source: shamrockbar

It was Friday night and Ben headed over to his local bar. He walked over to the corner stool and took a seat. The room was dimly lit. A flickering light hung over a pool table to the right and above the bar a neon light buzzed.

"Whatcha drinking tonight hun?" said the friendly bartender. Ben just pointed and the bartender happily poured him a glass.

"Now I know you're not just going to sit here in silence all night. If you need someone to talk to I'm here to listen. My name is Kathy by the way," said the bartender.

"Ben," he said as he managed a smirk.

After the small introduction Ben managed to begin to tell the story of his sorrow. How he had met a girl but in the end realized he could never win her heart. They had met online using one of those dating apps; her name was Kelly. Her profile caught his eye with a photo of Kelly and her dog walking on the beach. After they hit it off on their first coffee date Ben asked her to go out to dinner with him and she agreed.

"I really felt a connection with her and wanted to impress her. So even though I couldn't afford it I made a reservation at the most expensive restaurant in town," said Ben.

After that night Ben couldn't manage to tell her the truth. That he was a paralegal. Instead he told her he owned his own firm and spoke in details of his success. They continued to date for a couple months, all the while he felt like he was deceiving her. Until she suggested they take a trip. Ben emptied his saving account to book a trip to the Bahamas.

One night they bumped into another couple who were visiting from their town. They began to chat and the man was delighted to learn that Ben was a lawyer just like him. He began to ask questions and Ben fumbled at answering them in detail. That night back in their hotel Kelly found out the truth.

She began to confront him about his firm and where he went to law school. Kelly began to yell when she found out the truth and packed her bag. Ben thought after their time together it wouldn't matter, but he had never truly won her heart.

Ben walked out of the bar that night feeling a little better. He decided he couldn't be with a girl like her. She used her heart to lure a man she thought was rich. Ben gave up on winning Kelly's heart that night.

Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

Author's Note: This is an adaptation of " The Monkey and the Crocodile". The original story is about a crocodile that wants to eat the heart of a monkey. He uses the lure of fresh ripe fruit across the river. He offers to take the monkey and the monkey agrees. The monkey does not get eaten because he tricks the crocodile. The monkey then figures out how to get the fruit on his own. The crocodile tries to deceive the monkey again but is outsmarted by the monkey. In my story Ben is the crocodile trying to win the heart of Kelly by deceiving her. She is the greedy monkey who only is after one thing. She is able to find out the truth and leaves Ben. She may have outsmarted him but Ben realized maybe he didn't want her heart after all.