Preface
A lot of fans of The Big Lebowski wish there could be a sequel, but the story just doesn't seem to lend itself to that, and I don't think the Coen Brothers do sequels. I have kicked around the idea of writing a piece of fanfic for a while about The Dude's child
Roughly 19 years after the movie, The Dude's daughter finally finds her father, about whom she was always curious. As soon as she was 18 and Maude could not tell her "no", she hired a detective: the same one who drove the VW in the movie. Between the few things she knew and his work, she found that a man with the same name as her grandfather is coincidently her father, though not related to him.
I decided to make her a girl, because a girl would care more about the father she never knew until adulthood, and would be more likely to want to do something for him than a son. That is my opinion, anyway.
So here goes. An imagined meeting between The Dude, and the daughter he conceived with Maude.
A Little Lebowski
By Uncoveror
Disclaimer: I do not own The Big Lebowski, or any of the characters in it. Those belong to Joel and Ethan Coen, and the film studios they work with. No copyright infringement is intended. I hope you enjoy this story. If you have never seen The Big Lebowski, it is full of spoilers. I recommend watching the movie first.
Artemisia Lebowski , the daughter and only child of the somewhat renowned feminist artist Maude Lebowski, had always wondered about her father. Whenever she tried to ask about him, her mother refused to talk about it. "You're my baby, darling! Not some man's" was her standard answer. She had been named after Artemisia Gentileschi, a female artist from Renaissance Italy who actually broke into the boys club; the first woman ever accepted into the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno.
Once she was eighteen, it was no longer something that her mother was in charge of, so Artemisia hired a detective, a man named DaFino, to find her father. Based on some clues gleaned from Maude's art friends after they had been drinking, she had a little bit of information for him to go on. Between that and his own hunch, it didn't take him long to find The Dude. They had crossed paths before.
It took several attempts before The Dude would return DeFino's call, but a meeting was arranged. Even if she only got to meet him once, even if it did not go well, Artemisia would finally get to meet her father. They met at his apartment one evening when both had plenty of free time. Once he had introduced the two, DaFino got back into the classic VW beetle he still owned, and drove away.
"Hi, I am Artemisia. Maude Lebowski is my mother. Do you remember her?" "Yeah," The Dude Replied, "My name is Jeffrey Lebowski, but nobody calls me that. It's Dude or The Dude to all my friends." Artemisia wondered if it were more than just coincidence that this man bore the same name as her grandfather, but The Dude assured her it was only that.
"I would like to know how you met my mother. She never would tell me anything beyond that you are not an anonymous donor from a sperm bank, and that she did spend one night with you, and that one night was all she wanted." The dude shook his head a bit, and laughed quietly. After a long pause, he began to speak. "That is a long, crazy, convoluted story, man! I don't think you would believe it if I told you." This did not discourage her. Artemisia insisted that she wanted to hear it, and would listen to all of it without being judgmental.