285 Quiz Answer

It’s the story of Prince Hal, heir to the throne, who believed his father the King was too cold, too strict, and the boy felt the life of a young, respectable royal wasn’t for him. He became a wild dude, a type that I am led to believe may well exist in our time too.

What Hal really enjoyed was hangin’ with his fat friend Falstaff.  In the above picture, Falstaff is played by Orson Welles.  (From Shakespeare’s “Henry IV.”)

Also for Three Word Wednesday and ABC Wednesday: "J" is for "Jerome")

The following somewhat labored scenelet reminds you of – whom?

“Sit down, son.  Time we had another of our little talks.”

“We do have a lot of them, don’t we?”

“And they don’t seem to be doing much good.  No matter what kind of promises you give me, you don’t change.”

“Well, consistency, that’s a kind of virtue, right?”

“It’s not consistency when you step over the line and I find a police report on you when I come in to work in the morning.”

“A police report?  Oh man, what did I do this time?”

“It seems – I can hardly believe I’m saying this – you were involved in armed robbery.”

“What!?  That’s baloney!  Dad, I’ve never been involved in any robbery, armed or unarmed.”

“Well, they’ve got the gang who committed the crime and it’s the noxious gang you’ve been mixed up with.”

“Oh, I see what it is.  That was no robbery; it was just a sort of elaborate gag – that went kind of wrong.”

“A gag?  When are you going to grow up?  Since you were twelve years old I’ve been trying to groom you for the day when you could take over this enterprise.  But you keep acting like a wild, crazy kid.”

“Wrong.  I keep acting like most other young guys my age.  I like to have fun, hang out, meet girls, have a few drinks…”

“And rob people as a gag.”

“Again, I had nothing to do with that.”

“Well, who are the people of this gang?”

“It’s just some dudes I like to hang out with; it’s cool.  We have a lot of laughs and so on.  Nothing really wrong with that “

“And who’s this FJ?  Seems he was the one mainly responsible for the robbery.”

“Which, again, wasn’t a real robbery.  We call him Fat Jerome – or FJ – and I guess you wouldn’t approve of him.  He’s loud and obnoxious and usually pretty well hammered by noontime, and he’d make a good poster boy for Overweights Anonymous.  But basically he’s just a helluva lot of fun to hang out with.”

“Incredible.  The day will come, and it won’t be too long in the future, when you’ll be expected to sit in this chair and take over the operation of this entire enterprise.  And you’re training for this by spending most of your haphazard time with people who are pretty well hammered by noontime?”

“Dad, believe me.  I’ve been sowing my wild oats, maybe a bit too much, but I’ve never forgotten who my father is and who I am.  And what will be expected of me in the future.  When that time comes I will have said a long goodbye to FJ and the rest of ‘em.  I’ll be ready – seriously - and I’ll make you proud of me.”

The answer will be posted Saturday.