Week 12 Story: The Tale of O'Reilly

There once was a man named O'Reilly who lived in the town of Apollonia with his wife, Meredith. They were living in the poorest section of the town and had spent days and nights wishing that money would fall into their lap. One morning before going to work, O'Reilly had awakened to the sound of a thud on the front door. O'Reilly then slid out of bed to see who or what has arrived on his porch and found an eviction notice before he could open the locks on the door. Meredith follows behind him asking O'Reilly what he is holding and he tells her about them needing to come up with money within a certain amount of days otherwise they will be put on the streets.

"What are we going to do? It is almost time for winter and we cannot be without a place to stay," said Meredith.

"I know, I know my dear. Hopefully, Mr. O'Boyle will be generous enough to grant me a raise for my birthday since I have been helping him around the shop for quite a spell," said O'Reilly.

After worrying about how they will get the money, O'Reilly then gets up and begins to get ready to go to work. He is determined to convince his boss that he is due for a raise although the task to do so is not an easy one. On the way to work, he begins to notice his car is rocking from side to side and thinks nothing of it because the car itself is really old. O'Reilly pulls up to the curb of the antique shop that he works at and prepares himself to present to his boss logical reasons for him getting a pay raise.

O'Reilly's Car

 O'Reilly enters the shop to find his boss, Mr. O'Boyle, polishing some of the antiques that were on display. 

"Good Morning Sir," said O'Reilly.

"Ahh, O'Reilly! just the man I wanted to see, would you mind coming to the back with me for a second? I have to talk to you," said Mr. O'Boyle

The two men then headed to the back of the shop and sat on some wooden boxes discuss the matter at hand. O'Reilly then noticed a change in Mr. O'Boyle's demeanor and instantly points it out to him. Mr. O'Boyle then notes that something in his spirit told him to sit O'Reilly down and talk to him.

"I know your birthday is coming up and I appreciate all of the hard work. To reward you for your birthday and for your upcoming 6 year anniversary, I wanted to give you this bottle of juice," said Mr. O'Boyle.

Looking at the juice, O'Reilly muscles up the strength to say thank you and gets up to walk off but stops and turns around to pop the question. "Sir, I want a raise in my pay. I feel like I have been working here long enough and hard enough to deserve one," said O'Reilly.

"I understand that but I cannot give you a raise at this time O'Reilly. The store budget is tight enough as it is but I can guarantee you that you will not be needing a raise anytime soon," said O'Boyle  

Confused, O'Reilly then asks "What do you mean?" 

"You'll understand whenever you want to drink the juice, you must open and drink the juice in the comfort of your home before it expires at 1 pm," declares O'Boyle.

O'Reilly looks at the clock and then gets up to go to his house before the clock strikes 1 pm. he enters his car thinking to himself what Mr. O'Boyle meant when he told him to drink the juice by a certain time. Following his instructions, O'Reilly then begins to drive off and notices his car rapidly rocking from side to side, fearing the unfortunate situation of his car having a flat tire. he stops and then gets out of the car to witness the passenger side tire completely shredded. O'Reilly spends the next 20 minutes looking for someone to help fix his tire since he has little knowledge of changing a tire. his watch read "12:45" and the feeling of panic began to set in. Luckily, O'Reilly was only 10 minutes away from his house so he began to run as fast as he can in order to make it home before 1 pm. 

O'Reilly was out of breath when he reached his block with only five minutes to spare. Meredith was able to spot him from behind because she was on the passenger side of her friend's car. without hesitation, O'Reilly got in the car and told Meredith's friend to floor it with little time to spare. they reached the driveway around 12: 57 and hurried inside to drink the juice. O'Reilly pops open the juice and Meredith is trying to figure out what is going on. When O'Reilly finishes the juice, he tells Meredith of what Mr. O'Boyle told him to do at the shop. Again confused, the couple begins to wonder what is supposed to happen next and if anything significant has happened. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned into hours and still, nothing happened. O'Reilly grew discouraged and thought to himself how could Mr. O'Boyle be so cruel and deceitful after being so loyal to him for almost a whole decade.

O'Reilly goes to sleep depressed and accepting the fact that he and Meredith will be evicted in the morning. Morning comes and the two wake up and begin to pack all of their things ready to face the music. Just as they finished gathering everything in the room, the sound of a loud knock on the front door again. Taking in a deep breath and ready to face the music, O'Reilly then heads to the door when he is welcomed to an envelope with his name on it. O'Reilly then opens the envelope to find a check of fifty million dollars and a card promising brighter days.

Author's Note: The story is my own adaptation of The Tale of Ivan by Joseph Jacobs. In the original story, Ivan and his wife were poor and needed money in order to survive. Ivan then asks an elder he works under for a raise in his salary. Instead of giving him the raise, the elder gives him advice and bakes him a cake which he instructs Ivan to eat when he is the most joyous and he will see the rewards. My story operates in the same fashion with some changes to the characters, the food presented that will change the main character's life, and the ending of the story.  I wanted to originally end the story on the cliffhanger when O'Reilly's car caught a flat tire and letting the reader wonder if O'Reilly would have made it back home in time or not but then I decided to give O'Reilly a happy ending just like Ivan got one in his story.