Sunday, August 24, 2014

Week 2 Storytelling: The Kidnapping of Emily Kate Smith


Emily loved her new husband very much. He was 6’2 with a sculpted body. He was athletic, cunning, and practically royalty in the state of Tennessee. His family, though quite hectic, was even more prominent. She believed they were destined to be together, and she wasn’t wrong. He was godlike, but so was she.

She was a goddess. She always had been. Even growing up in grade school she knew it. Boys looked at her like they looked at no other girl. No matter where she went, she was considered beautiful. Emily and Tom made quite the couple, and the whole world knew it.

They were young. Tom was 27 and she was 24. Tom’s older brother, Jerry, was 31. He had come on some hard times, and Tom had invited him to live with the newlyweds. Some might consider the situation uncanny, which it was, but it also couldn’t have been more comfortable. The three were quite the party, and they got along extremely well. They were a great family. 

One day, Emily saw the most beautiful horse she had ever seen. It was golden, and though they lived on a large parcel of land outside of Denver, they never saw wild horses. It wasn’t just out of the ordinary; it was unheard of. Emily begged her husband to retrieve it for her. She had desired a horse ever since she was a little girl. She dreamed of having one of her own. Tom was reluctant, but he couldn’t say no to Emily. She was too beautiful, too kind, and too persuasive. He would have done anything she asked.

He climbed up into his Jeep and drove down the street in the direction the golden horse had gone. It was spring, and the top was off. The pre-summer breeze warmed his face, and he set off on his conquest.

Meanwhile, Emily was left at home with Jerry. He kept her company. It was as if he were her brother. She sat excitedly anticipating her precious pony. The clock ticked, and Tom didn’t return home. Emily begged Jerry to go after him and check on him. He put it off for a couple of hours, and finally he decided to go looking for him.


While he was out searching for Tom, an elderly man came to the door. Emily opened it and invited him in. Little did she know that he was quite evil. He kidnapped her.



Golden Dually
Source: Dually

Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.


Author's Note: In the original story, The Ramayana, by R.K. Narayan, tells the story of Sita being kidnapped. Rama and his brother are distracted by Ravana's uncle and Ravana kidnaps Sita. 


7 comments:

  1. Skyler- I absolutely love her re-make of the story. It was so creative to not only change the names, but change the setting, time period, and culture of the whole story. It was like a completely new story but with very obvious parallels to bring it back to the original story. I am definitely looking forward to reading more of your stories. Keep it up!

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  2. Skyler, I love the way you redid this story! I liked the way you incorporated the beautiful horse! They are one of my favorite animals. Changing the names is such a good idea. The ending of this story is a cliffhanger. I really want to know what happens next after Emily was kidnapped by an elderly man!

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  3. Yes! I love that you modernized this story. I feel like a lot of the stories I've read this week have had the same setting as the original, but I've always tended to enjoy modernized versions more. I should know, I did the same story modernized (just in a vastly different way). It was a really great story, though, and better yet it worked! Good job, and I can't wait to read more!

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  4. I really enjoyed how you rewrote the story and modernized it. The other versions I read of this just slightly altered the original plot but this is a completely different story. I think by modernizing the story you made it much more relatable and allowed your readers to better grasp the situation at hand. With some of these epics the wording and surroundings can be a bit challenging to immerse yourself into the story whereas in your case it was a walk in the park. Great job!

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  5. Skyler,
    I really like your story a lot! I knew immediately what it was relating to even though there was no mention of the original story.
    It's a lot more fun to read something when you feel like you can relate to it. Since you made it so up-to-date, the characters just seemed like people like us. The way you described the people was funny and the name changing was a good idea!
    Good job!

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  6. Skyler, I love the way you retold this story. Not only did you adapt it for modern times, you gave the characters backgrounds to make them more realistic. I think that the way you integrate Lakshmana into the story as Jerry is interesting. It is also more fitting for why he would live with them in today's society. Keep up the good work!

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