Raymonds Run
A short Story about two forms of victory.
Summary:
Raymond has a rare disorder, He is being taken care of by his sister Squeaky who is small but not afraid to fight. Her rival is Gretchin who always makes herself out to be better than she is. For example she will practice piano for weeks and then one day say that she heard a piece and just picked it up like that. Well there is a big race that Squeaky is practicing for with raymond that Gretchin also wants to win. On the day of the race Squeaky wins the race by a neck. She sees Raymond running and decides to be less competitive and teach Raymond how to run.
Conflict:
The external conflict is mainly between Gretchin and Squeaky, they meet on the street and begin to stare each other down until Gretchin's sidekicks throw the first words, "You signing up for the May Day races?" Squeaky realizes this is just small talk and decides to focus on her main enemy Gretchin.
Characters:
In the end, Squeaky has once again won the May Day races, but while she was racing Raymond showed her that there are more important things than small victories and petty fights. If Squeaky had not changed she would have been blind to this fact and continued to have the tunnel-vision that was keeping her from seeing what was truly important. Raymonds shows that she can learn from others just as others can learn from her.
Theme:
I believe the main theme is look past yourself and see the more important things in life. The way Squeaky started out was very narrow-minded but as the story continued and Raymond contributed to the races Squeaky changed for the better. You can tell she is different by the way she looks at Gretchin after the race.