The Tale of Two Lukes

Chapter 15: Training

     Tall Luke and Antonio Hernandez sit down on a mat with their legs crisscrossed. Antonio puts his hands on his knees, and Tall Luke does the same.
"Now then, shall we start?" Antonio asks.
"I'm ready", Tall Luke nods.
Antonio nods, "I see. We'll start off simple. An hour of silence."
"An hour of silence? That sounds like a long time to be starting off with", Tall Luke points out.
"I know, but you want to get strong fast, don't you?"
"How will this make me strong? I'm just sitting here. It'll do the opposite!" Luke protests.
"Strength is not just about how much you can lift, but also your discipline. Staying silent helps strenger your mind's ability to be disciplined." Antonio continues, "There was once a man living in a village. He was strong and might. The man thought he could handle everything, but one thing he couldn't handle was waiting. He was so impatient, he finished school at the age of 14, got married that same year, had kids, and quickly climbed in popularity. He was flying by through life. He was so flying by so fast, in fact, he went bald by 25, went grey by 30, and was on his deathbed by 35. All through his life, he couldn't tell you a single thing that was around him. He just made assumptions and carried on. His wife, on the other hand, was also impatient. She was around his age when she finished school and got married to him. Together, they thought they would rule the world. One day, the young woman did something remarkable. She paid attention to what was around her. She saw an older lady planting crops in her garden, and she went and helped her. She helped the old lady for years, and as the garden grew, so did her patience. She went through life slowly, and in the end, she lived to be 120. She also became stronger than her husband. While her husband could certainly bench more and do better quick mental math better than she could, what he couldn't do was stand his ground. He avoided conflict and debates because he didn't have the patience. He was awful with finance because it was tedious. He had all of this physical strength, but without mental strength, what does it amount to? His wife, on the other hand, would stand up for an equal standing in society, and she would debate men on how and why she is an equal. She would preach about philosophy and theology as if she were a priest. People despised this, and she has had many things and profanities thrown at her, but she still continued. The patience she had gained made her strong."
"W-what? That makes so sense at all," Luke says.
"Shhh! We're starting now!" Antonio says.
Antonio and Luke close their eyes and begin to meditate. It's quiet, but until Luke suddenly asks, "How much time is left?"
     Antonio huffs. He opens his eyes. "Well, it was 45 more minutes, but then you talked, so now it's 55 minutes."
     "Wait, I forgot about that rule", Luke says as he opens his eyes. "Can that just not count?"
      Antonio shakes his head no, "That won't strengthen your mind. If I let this slip by, you'll just forget about it again and then talk again. I am adding 10 minutes."
    Luke groans, "This sucks!"
     "20 minutes added! 10 for talking, 10 for fowl language!"
     "How is that fowl language? I didn't swear"
      "10 more added!"
       Luke nods and gives in. He falls silent again. He closes his eyes and lets his mind wonder. Luke day dreams about being back home in his room, comfortable and with no worries other than school and what he's doing to do that weekend (probably sleep). He remembers his family, his friends, his pets, then his mind goes back to how he got there in the first place. Short Luke.
His thoughts wonder for what felt like an eternity, when suddenly a thump is heard, and he feels something stiff strike his head. He snaps out of it, and almost talks, but refrains.
"Time's up", Antonio says. "You can speak now."
"Thank god. My legs started getting numb", Luke says.
"That won't happen as often the further you go in your training. Also, Watch your mouth. The lord's name will not be used so carelessly", Antonio says as he stands up. "Come on now, it's about time we have dinner and go to bed."
Luke nods and gets up. He says, "Sounds good. What exactly are we having?"
Antonio shrugs, "Whatever we can find. We'll hunt and gather for food."
"Hunt and gather?"
"Yes, you want to get physically strong as well, correct? We can start off by hunting."
Luke nods in understanding. Antonio gives him a shot gun and a knife.
"You know how to fire a gun?" Antonio asks him.
"Of course", Luke replies, looking at the gun. "My father and I used to go to the shooting range."
"Great! You'll do just fine then!"
Luke nods again, and Antonio leads him out. He takes Luke to a field where Mexican prairie dogs reside.
"Just aim and fire at two of them. That should be enough", Antonio says.
Luke sees a prairie dog next to him. He aims his gun, but then the prairie dog looks at Luke as if he ain't about to kill him. The prairie dog goes over to Luke's jeans and sniffs them. It licks the jeans as Luke lowers his gun, and he tries to shake the animal off of his leg. The prairie dog just comes back, and it makes a sound to Luke. Luke sighs and aims his gun to the prairie dog again. He hesitates, but then fires, killing the prairie dog. Other dogs scatter away in fear of the loud boom the gun made. Luke gets up and goes over to the prairie dog and just stares. He shot the jaw clean off. Blood stains the grass around, and the eyes of the wprairie dog are still open. It almost looks shocked. Antonio shoots another one, but Luke ignores the loud boom and the sounds of other prairie dogs running away. He's so focused on the one he killed, but for what reason? Luke keeps on staring wide-eyed. Antonio notices it, and goes to him.
"Hey, Luke, are you ok?"
Luke keeps silent.
"Hey, Luke, it's just a prairie dog, it's not like you killed a person or anything like that."
Luke remains silent.
"Luke", Antonio tries to get through to him. Antonio sighs. "Look, Let's just go back, and I'll handle the cooking, alright?"
Luke nods slightly. Antonio puts the two corpses into a leather bag. He begins walking back, and Luke follows. Once they get back to the camp, Luke sits down. Antonio takes the two prairie dogs out and prepares them for cooking. Luke turns away. He can't look at it.
Antonio makes a spicy stew from the prairie dogs, and puts them in two bowls. He serves one to Luke, who surprisingly eats it.
After supper, Antonio cleans up. Luke is still silent. Night falls, and Antonio goes to his cabin. It takes a long time, but like finally goes inside and falls asleep on the couch.