Jason And The Five Kingdoms - Chapter Three
Posted: Thursday, December 17, 2009
by David Pekrul
Chapter Three – The State of Complacency
On one of this many hikes, Jason crossed a hill and stood overlooking a valley. On the other side of the valley he saw what looked like another kingdom, and running the length of the valley, connecting the hill where he stood to this kingdom, was a wide, smooth highway. There were no boulders, brambles or crevasses covering this road. It was flat, wide and beautiful. The pavement was clear as glass and the sides of the highway were lined with wildflowers.
Before he could think, his feet were moving under him and he was running down the hill and heading for that beautiful highway that would take him to a place of freedom, far from the demanding commandments of the Father.
And then he was there, standing among those laughing and happy people. There was no large, heavy gate at the end of the highway, protecting this kingdom from the outside world. Everything was open, as if to give the impression that one was free to do as he pleased because he had earned this right through his good works.
Soon everyone was crowding around him, asking his name and where he had come from, welcoming him into the kingdom that was to be known as ‘The State of Complacency’.
Things were now happening so fast that he could hardly keep up. He was ushered into a great hall and greeted by an official representative. After a short speech, commending and praising him for all the good works he had done while living in ‘The Place of Promise’, he was presented with hundreds of bags containing shiny coins. There were thousands of coins of every precious metal imaginable, gold, silver, bronze and even platinum.
He was overwhelmed with the hospitality that was being shown. And what had he done to deserve all these thousands of precious, shiny coins? It was soon explained to him that the coins represented the credits earned through the good works done by him while living in ‘The Place of Promise’. “Finally," he thought, “I am being rewarded for all my good works. I am finally getting what I deserve."
‘The Place of Promise’ soon became a faded memory to Jason. Life in ‘The State of Complacency’ was good. He could finally live the fine life, doing whatever he wanted, without worrying about keeping silly rules. He was in control now, and he would do as he pleased.
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Jason had been living in ‘The State of Complacency’ for one month, when a knock came to the door. He opened the door to see a tiny man standing there holding a clipboard. The man looked rather unassuming, but when he opened his mouth to speak, there was a definite sound of authority. “Jason," the man said, “You have now been living here for one month, and I have come to collect the wages." “The wages?" Jason replied, “I don’t understand, what wages?" “Well, the wages of sin, of course," replied the tiny man.
He had never heard of such a thing, so the tiny man carefully explained it to him. “Jason, you came to the “State of Complacency" based entirely on your good works. Don’t you remember why we gave you all those shiny coins when you first arrived? They were tokens representing the credits you had accumulated for all the good works you had done while living in ‘The Place of Promise". Now you are in ‘The State of Complacency’, where you can do anything you wish, but any transgressions must still be paid for as wages of sin." “I have attended religious services all my life", replied Jason, “and the Orator spoke of love and faith and good works, but never of the wages of sin." “That is because he only told you what you wanted to hear," the tiny man continued, “what made you feel good, and not the whole truth. The wages of sin is a law of the kingdoms, and," he added with a sly grin, “we wouldn’t want to break any laws now, would we?"
Jason felt as if he was going to faint. “W-w-w-well", he stammered, “H-h-h-how much will it cost me?" “Oh, don’t be so worried, Jason," the tiny man cut in, “Your transgressions have been very small this month. Three small bronze coins should cover it." “Is that all?" Jason breathed a sigh of relief, “That’s nothing," and he flipped the tiny man three coins and closed the door.
He looked around the room with relief, mixed with pride and arrogance. He noted the many large piles of shiny coins spread around the room. After receiving the bags of coins on his arrival, he had gone to his room and emptied the bags on the bed. The coins were in such number, as to fill the bed and most of the floor. He had spent the rest of the day organizing them in piles of platinum, gold, silver and bronze. Now he was able to see the value in his good works. They had resulted in a wealth of coins that had his room almost bursting at the seams. He could do anything he wanted and all it would cost him was a few shiny coins.
As time went on, he became more and more comfortable in his surroundings in ‘The State of Complacency’. He even made a couple good friends in this kingdom, and all together they would carouse, day and night, doing whatever seemed right in their own eyes, and at the end of each month there would be a knock at the door, and the tiny man would collect their wages of sin. It seemed so simple and so right. He had earned these shiny coins. Did he not have the right to use them as he wished? The payment at the end of each month became such a regular routine, that Jason was unaware that they were becoming larger every time.
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It had now been one year since he had found his new life in ‘The State of Complacency’, and he was in the mood for a celebration. He called upon his two friends and together they went with him to enjoy the pleasures of the kingdom. They stayed out all day and all night and all the next day and all the next night. Finally, in total exhaustion, they returned to their rooms and slept, dreaming of all the things they had done. The days and weeks passed, and again it was the end of the month.
The familiar knock came to the door and Jason opened it. “How much this month, little man?" he spoke with impudence. He leaned against the wall, calmly smoking a thick cigar and blowing smoke rings into the air. The tiny man flipped through his clipboard, looking for Jason’s name. “This month’s wages will be 100,000 platinum coins, 50,000 gold coins, 30,000 silver coins and 25 bronze coins." the little man replied. “What? Are you kidding?" Jason was in shock. “Well, you have had a pretty busy month," the tiny man returned. Grudgingly he scooped up the required payment and gave it to the tiny man, who started to leave with not so much as a ‘thank you’. “Oh, by the way," he turned back to face Jason, “You know those two friends of yours? Well, they’re being sent back to ‘The Place of Loss’. Seems they have spent all their shiny coins and can no longer afford to be complacent."
Sent back to ‘The Place of Loss’? Jason was having a hard time processing the message. He felt very sorry for his friends, and so he should, for to be sent back to ‘The Place of Loss’ could mean only one thing. They would most likely take up future residence in ‘The Place of Pain and Confusion’. The Orator had said that it was unlikely that this place existed, but Jason knew that it did. “Well, that’s not going to happen to me," he thought, “Look at all my shiny………" He stopped in mid-sentence and tried to catch his breath, as he surveyed his room and what was left of his coins. Only a handful of bronze coins lay in the corner of the room. He remembered back to the day he arrived here, and how the officials of the kingdom had lavished so many bags of coins upon him. He was horrified to see that he had burned through them in only one year. It was now obvious that, like his friends, he too could no longer afford to live in ‘The State of Complacency’.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)The only thing I might think of adding is color of wildflowers, and a bit about the kingdom and what it looked like - OR maybe then it wouldn't be a short story...MarijoAll good points, Marijo. My main aim of this story was to try to concentrate on Jason and his problems. I also didn't want the story to ramble on too much. This is my first attempt at writing a short story, so I'm sure I have a lot to learn. It was fun writing it though.Thanks for reading and commenting.
Good reading and am now in Reader's CLub - keep em coming and keep dreaming those dreams! Marijo
David, I LOVE your poetry and your story's pretty good too! Keep 'em coming!Thanks Lorrie. This is my first attempt at writing a story. It was fun to write.
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