Week 6 Story: Give Them An Offer They Cant Refuse

What I imagined the Mafia to look like in this story

Source

"Visit Panipinto, the biggest town in little Italy!" read the run down sign at the edge of the city. This sight was not an uncommon one, as the whole country turned to hell after Y2K2. With the absence of technology that humans had come so dependent on, the whole world seemed to fall apart. Where governments once rained now belonged to smaller groups, and tribal warfare was common. 

"Mama, are we going to be safe?" asked Michael, one of the small boys in Tailia's nomadic group. With a heavy sigh and the best forced smile she could manage, Talia told her children and the others in her group that they would look for food and water in the town of Panipinto and that everything would be okay. Talia felt uncomfortable lying to the others, especially her own children, but then again she wasn't 100% comfortable being the leader of this group either so she deemed it necessary to keep spirits high. 

Once in town, Talia and her group were welcomed as beggars by one of the families in the city. The family introduced themselves as the Castle's and welcomed the group in with warm smiles and hot soup.

"Pardon my intrusion, but what is it that you family does? We have wondered this country for several months and have never found a town as affluent as this" Tali asked curiously. The owners responded and told the group of nomads that their town was protected by a crime family. Every month, they would ask a different residence for "insurance" payments, and in return, the family would keep the town protected from raiding parties from other tribes. Talia beamed, as she thought that with enough hard work, the nomads could finally settle down and have protection from the violent atrocities they'd seen in their time in the country. 

"I know it seems like a good deal, which is why we settled down here. But you must leave" responded the Mrs. Castle when she saw Talia's excitement. "The tribute they ask for is not money or food, they ask for children. They use them to carry drugs and guns to the Chinese about 40 Km south."

Talia was shocked of this horror, then she glanced at the family photo that was displayed on the counter. It showed the Castle's, and a little girl. The absense of the child and the tears rolling from the mothers face told all the story Talia needed to hear.

"Say thank you for the food guys, we're leaving" Talia announced and began to gather the nomads belongings. But with the swiftness of an arrow slicing through the air, the front door swung open. Standing in the doorway was the gigantic Arnold, Talia's son who she'd thought was with his wife in Michigan. "I am here mother, I sensed your fear. What is causing this fear among you and how can I help." 

Arnold was one of Talia's more skilled sons, as he had tussled with the strongest of men, and no matter how stacked the odds against him were, he always seemed to come out victorious with little to no injuries on him. Talia told Arnold what she had learned, and begged him to help the townsfolk. He agreed and asked the Castle's where the family was. He cracked his knuckles and laughed, "Mom, thank you for calling on me, I haven't had a proper fight in weeks." And with that, he slammed the door behind him and trudged his way towards the house of the crime family. 

In what seemed like hours, the front door finally banged 7 times. Talia knew this was Arnold, as this was their secret way of communicating when in the wilderness. The Castle's opened the door and saw Arnold, covered in blood, smiling from cheek to cheek. Behind him lied close to 50 criminals all groaning in agony in the street. 

"I think this is yours" Arnold spoke as a little girl ran from behind him and hugged the Castle's. "Fear not citizens of Panipinto" Arnold bellowed. "Today marks the day you are free from tyranny!" 

And with that, the townsfolk celebrated Arnold's defeat over the mafia and claimed him as the towns new protection, one that did not require "insurance" payments.

Authors notes:
I took this story from part 24 of the book. I replaced the monster baka with a crime family that has taken control a city after the governments of the world have fallen. In the book, Bhima seemed way too powerful, so I made him like superman in this story, coming to the rescue and ready to fight anything in his way. I wasn't a huge fan of making the mafia a bunch of cannibles, so I decided to make them drug mules instead, and sell to the Chinese. I chose to make the Chinese and Italian mobs control New York, where the Chinese controlled China Town and the Italians controlled Little Italy. Lastly, I had to make the governments fall in this story so I decided to make Y2K2 (Y2K part 2) which made all electronics cease to work. This quickly lead to riots and eventually the downfall of society.

Bibliography:
Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition
http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/search/label/PDE%20Mahabharata