Author's Note: This story is based on The Wolf Aunt from the Persian Tales unit. Basically, it's about a poor man who meets a woman claiming to be his sister. His wife and her daughter find out the woman is actually a man-eating wolf, but he doesn't believe them. They leave without him and he's eventually eaten. I've modernized it and written it out as diary entries from the wife that are left for the husband to find. If he's alive, that is.
(diary image from anyvanille on flickr)
June 19th, 2014
My
husband thinks he may have found his long-lost sister. She’s been missing for
twenty years… Why would she just appear out of nowhere? We’ve been searching
for so long, and yet she’s been in this town the whole time? We just moved here
last year. This doesn’t make sense. I can’t trust a woman who just approaches
James on the street like that. She probably knows he’s vulnerable and is just
taking advantage of him. He’s asleep now so I’ll talk to him about how worried
I am tomorrow.
June 20th, 2014
I woke
up to an empty bed. James had left early this morning. He left a note on the
fridge door saying he was off to meet with that so-called sister of his. I made
the kids ramen noodles for breakfast (again…) and then did my usual job hunting
until noon. Little Marie asked me why daddy has been acting so funny lately. I
explained to her that daddy may have gotten some good news. I didn’t mention
what kind, though. She seemed satisfied enough. She is only 6, after all.
It’s
nearly 1am and James still isn’t back. I don’t think I can stay awake much
longer so I’ll just have to talk to him tomorrow.
June 21st, 2014
James
woke me up excitedly this morning. I didn’t even have time to ask him where he
was all night because he dragged me out of bed to help him prepare for tomorrow
evening. He said his sister would be over and he wanted to treat her to
something nice. We don’t have much money, but I took a couple of the girls
shopping with me and we got ingredients for steak. I also picked up a little
gift for my dear sister-in-law. I hope she likes magnets with sarcastic sayings
on them. They were on clearance.
So, we
spent the whole night cleaning and I once again didn’t get to talk to James. I
swear it’s like the universe is trying to keep me away from him right now. But
seriously, he’s acting crazy. I need to talk to him soon.
June 22nd, 2014
Well,
today sucked. I’m not sure “sucked” is really the right word, though. Today was
miserable, surreal, terrifying… lots of things. The “sister” got here at 2pm.
Much earlier than I expected. The girls and I were still in the kitchen cooking
so it was kind of awkward having her wait in the living room. And James couldn’t
entertain her because he had decided to go out and buy flowers at the last
minute. So as some kind of sign of peace I gave Marie the magnets and told her
to go give them to the lady in the living room and to comeback immediately
after.
I’m not
sure how to explain this next part. Even in my head everything is so jumbled
up. Basically… Marie headed toward the door to the living room with the
magnets. I got kind of paranoid and stopped cooking long enough just to follow
her and make sure that creepy chick didn’t try anything. Marie opened the door
just a little bit (she’s pretty shy) and we could see the “sister.” She was
sitting there on the couch polishing a gun. I guess she had been keeping it in
her bag. I yanked Marie back inside and sent all the girls into the backyard.
Just for a little while. To play, I told them. Marie wouldn’t leave my side,
though. She was scared. We sat in the kitchen and talked until James got back.
Now, I know very little about guns
but I do know a real gun when I see one. But James says it was probably just a
toy. He’s lost his mind. He didn’t even care! I had the girls eat their dinner
upstairs. James and I sat with the woman at the table. It was weird. I don’t
like her. I don’t know what I’m going to do.
June 23rd, 2014
Couldn’t
sleep last night. “Sister” is coming over again today. I can’t do this anymore.
I’m taking the kids and leaving. I told James and he seems to think he’ll
eventually prove to me that she’s fine. But I have such a bad feeling about this.
I’ll leave my diary here. James, I know you like puzzles. 57 65 27 72 65 20 77
69 74 68 20 6d 79 20 6d 6f 6d 2e 20 4c 6f 76 65 20 79 6f 75 2e
Persian Tales, translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer and illustrated by Hilda Roberts (1919).
Persian Tales, translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer and illustrated by Hilda Roberts (1919).
The diary format of this story definitely is fitting for this story. I like how you really don't know what's going to happen day to day but you know something bad will happen. The cliff hanger at the end got me, what exactly does that puzzle mean? I wouldn't mind reading a part 2 to this story! Good job.
ReplyDeleteLilly, I liked the format of this story because it was very simple to read and follow along. I was intrigued the entire time, you definitely aimed to keep readers on their toes. The ending was confusing to me though and I wished there was more to it so I could find out who the crazy “sister” was. Great story!
ReplyDeleteI definitely liked that you told the story from the perspective of the wife instead of that of the husband (not that I know which point of view the original story took). The fact that you used diary entries to tell the story was also really interesting in that it gave a sense of the story on a personal level. I liked that I got into the real thoughts and emotions of the wife. I really wanted to try to crack your code so I could find out what would become of the mysterious sister. Well done!
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