Thursday, October 18, 2018

Week 9 Story: Brawl at the Bar


A Bar (Wikipedia)


Parvati had one of those days at work.  Murphy’s Law was in full affect, whatever could go wrong did.  For the last two hours of shift she kept repeating her mantra in her head; it is almost beer thirty.  This gave her the strength to power through to the end of shift.  As soon as she heard the bell signaling the end of shift, she jumped in her car and headed to the closest water hole, McNellie’s Ale House. 

Parvati was a regular at McNellie’s.  In fact, she considered it her cheers.  It is where everybody knows her name.  She settled in at the bar and ordered her favorite beer, Moose Drool by Big Sky Brewery.  She was not even halfway done with her pint when three frat boys walked in and sat next to her.  The leader introduced himself as Shumbha, and his cronies Chanda and Munda.  She found them rude and crude.  All she wanted to do was enjoy her beer in peace, and not be harassed by three jerks. 

In desperation she sent a text to her best friend Durga.  The 911 text was a plea for help, to get rid of the three frat boys.  Durga immediately responded and said she would be there in fifteen minutes.  When she arrived, she tried her best to shut down the frat boys’ advances.  After twenty minutes the three wastes of space did not get the point that the two ladies wanted nothing to do with them.  In fact, Shumbha said that if they invited one more friend then they could have three couples.

That was when Durga realized that the only way to end this was to text Kali.  Fortunately, Kali was just finishing up her jujitsu training session down the street.  It just so happens that Kali dominated her last mixed martial arts match.  She said she would take care of the oxygen stealers then the three girls would have dinner.  This made Parvati and Durga breath a sign of relief. 

Not two minutes had passed when Kali strode into McNellie’s.  Kali had a presence that made everyone in the pub stop what they were doing and take notice of her.  Kali walked right up to the three frat boys and informed them that they had two choices.  One, they leave Parvati and Durga alone, or she would make them.

All three started to laugh and said they would like to see her try.  Kali bared her teeth in a wolfs grin, and said they just made a huge mistake.  Chanda and Munda were the closest to her and the easiest to dispatch.  In no less than three moves she had both men eating the hardwood floor.  Shumbha, taken aback by her ruthless efficiency said that she would have no such luck doing the same thing to him.  With a sneer Kali said she would not have too.  Out of nowhere, Durga grabbed Shumbha in a classic choke hold, and he passed out in forty-five seconds.

The three best friends looked down at the three unconscious men and admired their handy work.  Everyone in the bar cheered, because the three frat boys had caused trouble at McNellies’s time and time again.  The manager was so happy, he gave all three of them free food and drinks for the rest of the evening.  Parvati smiled and thought that her day was finally improving.

Author’s Note
This story is based on the Amar Chitra Katha comic Tales ofDurga: Tales of the Mother Goddess.  Written by, Subba Rao, art by Souren Roy.  In the original comic Durga came out of Parvati’s body.  Durga fought Shumbha.  He was a powerful demon who kicked all the Gods out of heaven.  When Shumbha’s army attacked Durga she became so angry that Kali came out of Durga’s head.  Kali killed the army and Shumbha’s commanders Chanda and Munda.  Together Durga and Kali kill Shumbha.  Kali prevents his blood from being spilled, while Durga throws him to the ground from the sky.

For this story I focused on plot changes.  First, the goddesses are human and separate people.  I liked the idea of the events happening in a bar.  The reason is because most people have had an experience with that one obnoxious drunk person in a bar.  Also, since it is a modern day setting the ladies only beat up the three guys instead of killing them.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Mona, this was an excellent story! I love the introduction involving Murphy's law, and the inclusion of "Beer Thirty!" I think you do a good job of displaying the somewhat intangible tension that the main characters face, and I think it's an interesting take on the scene as a whole. One thing that I am curious about is how Kali was able to dispatch of them so quickly? Overall though, it was a great story!

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  2. Hi Mona... I loved the idea of the three women being best friends! It was a great idea and a great way to make it into a modern story as women don't normally come fully-formed out of other women when they're upset! It was also well-thought because you stuck to the same chronology of their different arrivals while still making a new situation that required their arrivals. It was different and very creative. Also, allusions are a great way to help your audience connect with the character, because they can see how they are similar or different to themselves in a way that reinforces the character's humanistic side!

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  3. YES a bar brawl story! I didn’t know I needed this until now. I am ALL for kickbutt women not dealing with trashy dudes. Also, the Murphy’s Law mention is just so relatable. I liked how you put the characters in a more contemporary setting, but gave them more traditional Indian Epic sounding names, and enjoyed the role phones/texting played in the story. I could picture McNellies as I was reading this. Super fun- thanks for sharing!

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  4. Hey Mona,
    I really loved this story and enjoyed getting to read it. With you adding Murphy's law in to the story made it even more interesting. I love that law and all of the sayings that go along with it. I hope you have a good rest of the semester.

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