Ki pulled on Tee’s long fluffy tail, but her stubborn twin sister refused to let go of the lamp post she held onto in the corner of Tom and Jerry streets, right across from the apothecary shop.
“You said we were going out for sushi!” said Tee pressing her whiskers against the post.
Ki tugged at her sister’s tail. “You know you’re not allowed into the sushi joint without a pass. So we’ll go to the apothecary, where you can take the reagent and get the pass. You can even have it laminated. Then we can go out for sushi.”
“You sneaky little devil,” accused Tee. “I already told you that I am not taking any poison!”
“Don’t be stubborn!” Ki chided.
“They said the bugs would only last two weeks.”
“So what? That’s the nature of bugs. They don’t play by our rules and logic. They have their own.”
“I don’t care,” said Tee wiggling her nose. “It’s my choice!”
“Not when it’s against the rules!” Ki said and pulled again on her sister’s tail. “Besides the science says the reagent is safe and effective.”
“Oh yea? The science also says that your ears fall off after you take it!”
Tee wiggled her hips and tried to shake her sister off. There was much hissing and squealing going on when suddenly the sisters heard someone clear their throat nearby.
“You gurrls mind telling me what’s going on?”
A burly bulldog in uniform stood there looking down at them with an air of disdain.
“Officer Jowls!” said Ki, letting go of her sister’s tail. She giggled. “My sister and I were just horsing around.”
“Just horsing around, eh?” said officer Jowls. “Mmm. What are you doing out here anyway? You know it’s still dangerous with all those bugs flying around.” His eyes narrowed and he seemed to think of something. “Say, can you gurrls show me your passes?”
“Passes?” said the sisters in unison. “Sure thing officer!”
They each began to rummage through their purses, but only Ki produced her pass, which she had carefully laminated and inserted in a slim card holder decorated with little paws and flowers.
For her part, Tee continued rummaging through her purse, sticking out the tip of her tongue as if in deep concentration. “It’s here somewhere…” she murmnured wiggling her whiskers.
“You know it’s against the law to be walking around without a pass, right?” said officer Jowls.
“It’s here. I swear!” insisted Tee sticking her face in the purse.
Ki rolled her eyes.
At that moment, there was a commotion coming from the apothecary. The trio turned to see a couple of alchemists dragging a figure to the back of the shop. Almost immediately, one of them rushed to the door, pulled the blind, and hung a CLOSED sign on it.
The officer and the sisters looked at each other.
“Was that Rod Wheeler?” said Tee. “His tail looked rather stiff.”
Officer Jowls cleared his throat.
“Yes, well… You gurrls go on home. Remember, you need to have your passes up to date. I don’t make the rules. I just enforce them.”
He then turned around and headed towards the apothecary.
The sisters walked along Wain avenue without saying a word. Finally, Tee broke the silence.
“How about we get Sushi take out?” she said.
“Hmff!” exclaimed Ki clicking her fangs. “I should pull your whiskers off!”
Thank you for reading my entry to the InkWell Challenge #57 with the prompt Making and Breaking the Rules with an emphasis on conflict.
Reading a story and understanding both perspectives immediately is always a good way to go, I think. You have achieved that in a light way.
Thank you @erh.germany. I do have my own personal perspective as a private citizen, but as a story teller, I like to shed light on the different facets of an issue. It's a juggling act between the two. :)
The moment you become a storyteller and inevitably take more than one point of view, there is really no way back to just one believable dominant one. The ability of storytellers, just like actors (which we all basically are if we want to be), to do multipolar viewing and framing is what makes us human. We are even capable of adopting deviant levels alongside the horizontal and vertical ones, commonly referred to as "meta". The storyteller learns through his creation that he cannot remain one-sided if he wants to illustrate a conflict.
I also agree with the experience that everyone, however, goes back to a certain position that is closer to him than another in moments where it matters in his daily interpersonal experience.
Here, everyone wants to be able to act according to their own conscience, because nothing is worse than having to act against oneself - the only real authority - and the outside world negates this. He'd hurt his human dignity and I think that is something not to be underestimated in its consequences of social matters.
From my point of view fiction and art are the most intelligent means to meet this issue, for it acts vicariously as an "as if" situation and supports to open minds and hearts.
I know this from my professional practice where I created with my clients "as if" scenes and we acted them out. That prevented us from having to take a firm stance without even having touched the deeper dimensions behind every humans soul.
Story telling is a wonderful creation. While we tend to think of it as entertainment, it goes beyond that, as you suggest. Even companies are now using the techniques of story telling to improve the processes and human resources necessary for more effective and efficient product development.
Every story teller is different and brings his/her own style to the mix. Of course, a story will align with the author's biases, though I prefer those stories that make you think about an issue instead of clobbering you over the head with propaganda.
I am unable to think of it otherwise :)
I don't think much of companies that incorporate the storytelling method for greater effectiveness. As long as that company is not an intimate part of those who work there, such methods are, for me, merely a means to an end to make employees believe that the company is something like family. Which it usually is not.
The very nature of employment relationships contradicts such methodology. Employees sign contracts and there the hierarchy is clearly regulated and the employee is bound by instructions and otherwise has no say in the running of the company, no share in its profits and of course no share in its losses. From this point of view, this existence contradicts the model of a family, where all profits and losses are shared or are the responsibility of the family. Where companies give themselves profiles and their corporate policy pretends to be a family environment, they certainly succeed in doing so, so people always like to identify with their employer, because otherwise they have few comparable identities that take up as much energy and capacity as work.
A shared enduring narrative is not authentic in this environment, as births and deaths within the workforce, for example, are basically just disruptive, as employers are not willing to compensate for such things, but it has economic disadvantages for them. However, a culture that cannot or does not want to absorb birth, death, illness is therefore not an authentic environment, so a company's story is only really of value if the company includes such things and really shows itself as a family. Where the management attends the funeral or welcomes children to the company, etc., where there is shared mourning for tragedies and shared celebrations for happy occasions, so everyone knows everyone well. But it is not like that and the concept of gainful employment and taxes and money-regulated professions with a strong division of labour has nothing to do with family, rather it has led to the destruction of the family or to its degeneration. At work you are an individual trying to assert yourself against other individuals who are in competition with you and where you submit to a leadership that gives you your tasks. Exceptions confirm the rule.
I have been a PR consultant for a long time and I know the methods of corporate and brand PR. They all live on emotional charges and the constant repetition of their "brand and corporate values" that you just made up. There is nothing behind it, people come and go and nobody stays anywhere for several years or even decades. Nothing can grow that could be called a really good narrative. They are decals of an era far in the past that are used for the present, the whole thing lives on nostalgia and the ideal. This can also be seen in classic product advertising. ... without the peoples, a narrative is not worth much.
But of course, for the banal everyday life, it is perhaps good to convince oneself that one is working in a working environment that offers some narrative instead of none at all.
In North America, story telling has taken on a more formal role within companies. Check out this article
How to Use Storytelling in Business to Build Captivated Audiences
Beyond business, story telling also has other functions in a society and has been a topic of research in anthropology. Story telling serves other functions in society besides entertainment. Wikipedia has a good run down on the topic.
Thank you for visiting!
Thank you for the source, I have read the article.
Yes, nice stories are made up and in particular the trend of "saving the world and being a do-gooder" is used. "Here a problem: there the solution." "Do you want to be one of the good guys or the bad guys?"
A cheap trick, in my opinion. But it works excellently and uses people's deep dependence on a social group. Which hardly exists as such in real, tangible life. The clan, the tribe, the extended family are a thing of the past. The mantra of collectivism has taken its place.
In this virtual advertising world, the view into the past is glorified just like the view into the future and the present is always something that has to improve, a promise of "more goodness, humanity, cleanliness, security and wealth".
However, the promises do not really materialise and remain as "yet to be achieved". Now merely with other guiding figures. Whereas it used to be the celebrity and superstar, now it is supposedly the girl, the man next door.
The stories themselves become humbler, in line with the zeitgeist they themselves have created, but it does not change the facts and functions of commerce.
The beautiful simple country life, the cosy business culture, it is only possible for a few who are classy as figureheads. The rest of us, who can't afford our own piece of land, cram ourselves into the big cities and talk ourselves into "staying away from nature" to protect it.
I just brushed upon the wiki entry, there is lot to be read of other aspects of storytelling which I began to prefer myself.
Looking back at ones own life, in particular when you get older, it's a form of becoming and staying real, if you have collected real time stories and adventures yourself. Just the imagination that my life would mostly consist of being in front of a screen, there would nothing be left to tell.
Greetings to you
You hit a playful note at perfect stride, I don’t know why, but I could help think of “The Road Runner” comic strips while reading. The endless saga of “should we” or...but if we don’t then...
The doors are freedom, it seems, are firmly shut with a multitude of takeaway menus hanging from their doorknobs. 🤗💕❤️
Heh. When writing this story, I felt more like a small-town reporter describing a bunch of absurd situations. Thank you @itsostylish!
The story is delightful, but hits home :) My son has so far talked me out of getting a booster, but I feel it's probably unavoidable. There I am, Tee, struggling between the desire to go about freely and the shaky confidence in the salubrious effects of a third vaccine.
Your piece really is clever. It captures the conflict, the rules, the impossibility of knowing the best course.
Great !!! dialogue.
I think most of us don't want Kee to get that shot :))
Thank you @agmoore! I enjoy writing about this silly cat-and-pooch world for some reason. :) We've had to make difficult choices one way or the other, weighing the risks and benefits. I wish the topic of vaccination was black and white because then it would be easy to make a decision one way or other, but unfortunately it isn't, and there are many shades of gray.
And all of us want those pesky bugs to go away one day :)
This entertaining and fresh story brings us an absurd rule in a fantastic world. The different personalities of the sisters make us see the positions we can take in the face of obligations. Thanks for writing it for Theinkwell's weekly call for entries, @litguru. Thanks for your stimulating comments in the comments on other stories.
We have certainly crossed into a different world and have to deal with issues that used to be just abstractions in the past. Now they're real and no less difficult to deal with. We can still laugh about it though 😸
Reading this felt like I was watching an animation and I enjoyed the bickering between the sisters.
It does have a cartoonish feel to it. I was thinking a bit about anime when I wrote it. :)
It wasn’t only me then. Nice story!