If you are preparing a short story for publication, it naturally implies that your intended audience is the general public. The purpose of any form of fiction writing depends heavily on the author´s intentions, which can´t be generalized; however, one aesthetic characteristic that all fiction shares is that it is a creative product that aims at entertaining the reader for if the piece of writing lacked this characteristic it would most likely not be considered for publication.
I would say that the answer is to entertain because it doesn't give a topic for the short story, but it's just fiction and most fiction stories are to entertain.
My sweet,quiet father surprised us with his outburst yesterday Your only describing the father with 2 words. A comma is only necessary if you were using 3 words
