The Ransom of the Red Chief is a very complex but short story, filled with many useless lessons to common folk, but might apply to kidnapees. The kidnappers, Sam and Bill, are two con men who travel the lower parts of America looking for small jobs and scores to get a bit of money, which caused their demise. They get it a job to kidnap the son of the town’s official. The actual capturing goes swimmingly, but these guys have little experience with handling kidnapees, let alone a child. The victim, Johnny, pretends to be a Native American chief, and his aggressive act soon has his abductors frightened and concerned for their own safety. Johnny makes up tales of the Native Americans’ objections nearest white men they see. Unfortunately for Bill, Sam leaves him alone with the now menacing Johnny. After a few cruel hours with Johnny, Bill is worn and torn. He composes a ransom letter demanding fifteen hundred dollars in straight cash, instead of the two thousand dollars they originally wanted. With the kid becoming more and more irritating, and Bill’s mental health plummeting, he figures it’s worth it to lose five hundred dollars to rid of that hell-born. When the ransom demands reach the town, a counteroffer is made. Sam and Bill can pay him five hundred dollars total, or else they keep the kid. Considering that their mental health and safety will fall if they choose to keep their money, they agree to the town’s terms and drop the kid off at night and bolt as fast as their middle-aged bodies can in order to get out of Johnny’s reach.
