Therapist: "Why don't we start from the beginning..... Tell me about some issues you are struggling with."
Jack: "Well it all started when I flooded our entire town. I work for the water department in Olympia and I'm in charge of the floodgates at the local dam. One slow evening I was sort of drinking on the job because of a fight I had with my wife earlier that day. We've been having marriage problems for awhile now. So I was having a few beers, when out of nowhere one of my coworkers snuck up and scared me. I jumped out of my seat and since my balance was off from the alcohol I accidentally knocked a lever for one of the floodgates. You would think that I could just turn the lever back off, but unfortunately that's not how these work. When you pull one of our floodgate levers the floodgate has to cycle all the way open before you can close it. I sounded the city alarm system as soon as I realized what had happened, but not everyone had enough time to clear the area. In a town of 14,000 people, almost 800 perished. I never admitted to anyone that I had been drinking, and my coworker luckily didn't see the bottles so it was deemed an accident. My wife had her suspicions though, and she would never let me forget."
Therapist: "That is tragic. What an awful event for everyone involved, including yourself. Why don't you tell me more about your relationship with your wife..."
Jack: "After that, things only got worse. I took what happened really hard, and I held myself fully responsible. My alcohol abuse only worsened and I started looking for love elsewhere because my wife was disgusted with the person I had become. I ended up having relations with three other women, all of which bore a child of mine. When I found out each of these women were pregnant I tried to cover my tracks as best I could. The first woman I sent away to a farm and threatened that if she ever tried to seek me out I would have her and her child killed. As this child grew older he made a friend, a friend who also did not have a father. One day his friend started snooping around his mother's belongings and found the identity of his biological father. This just so happened to be one of my best friends. My best friend was unfaithful one time and the girl ended up pregnant. The child kept trying to reach out to his father, my friend, but my friend wanted nothing to do with him. I knew there was only one way to keep his secret as well as mine safe, and that was to get rid of his son.
Therapist: "So you sent him away as well?"
Jack: "If that's what you want to call it."
Therapist: "Oh, I see. Continue....."
Jack: "The second woman I sent into the mountains. I never saw or heard from her or her child ever again. The third woman was the real tragedy. She ended up falling in love with me, and wouldn't take no for an answer. She began stalking me and threatened to reveal the truth and ruin my life. I couldn't have that, so I did what I thought was my only option at the time. I "sent her away"."
Therapist: "Is there anything else you would like to talk to me about?"
Jack: "I just wish that none of this had ever happened. I'm truly sorry and I'll do whatever it takes to make things right. I just hope that my wife, the love of my life, can find it in her heart to forgive me. As well as all of the other families and people I've hurt over the years."
(Jupiter and Juno, by Annibale Carracci)
Author's Note: This week I read Ovid's Metamorphoses I. I was really thinking hard of a way to retell this story that was completely different. If you've read the story you'll see in my retelling that I didn't stick to the storyline at all hardly. In my story, Jack (Jupiter) ends up flooding his town and then having affairs with three women and getting them all pregnant. Also, he murdered a couple of people as well. In the original, Jupiter floods the earth, rapes three women, gets them all pregnant, and murders a few people. I thought the idea of Jack (Jupiter) confessing to a therapist his mistakes would make for an interesting read. I also wanted to put the story into more modern day terms. I hope you enjoy.
Bibliography: This story is based on readings from Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline.
Hi Austin, what an amazing story you wrote? I really enjoyed reading it. Poor jack! He has very sad story from the beginning to the end .first when he knocked a lever for one of the floodgates. And then when he had bad relationship with his wife, and finally his story with the three women and the children. I do not understand why people sometimes when they try to fix a problem they find themselves in a larger mistake. Like in this story what jack did instead of trying to fix his problem with his wife, he found himself in a very complicated situation. Also he started to do just horrible things to save his marriage. This story is so great it made me think more deeply in this life. Great job Austin!
ReplyDeleteWow, Poor Jack! This is a perfect way to bring Zeus' antics into the modern world. There had to be some reasoning behind his actions, and I really like that you took a risk by incorporating addiction into the equation. The therapy setting also gives the reader a complete look at Jack's situation that we may not have gotten from another setting! This was a really fun read!
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