In a small, dank room in basement of Dale Hall, two freshmen met. One introduced himself to the other.
"Hi! I'm Doug! I'm in Kappa Shoe!" He stuck his hand out.
The girl sitting next to him replied, "I'm Kat. I'm a History major." She gave him a fist bump.
Doug frowned, confused for a moment, but quickly recovered. "Nice to meet you Kat! Do you want to be friends? You seem smart." Doug kept talking, and Kat nodded along. They made an agreement to be study buddies, and Kat helped Doug with the parts of the class that he didn't quite grasp. They both ended up with good grades; they were a good team.
After the last class of the semester, Kat asked Doug if they could talk outside of the classroom. Doug agreed.
"Look, Doug, you've been a great study buddy, but I don't think I'll be able to help you in your classes next term." Kat waited while Doug thought through what she had said.
"Can we still be friends?" He asked. Kat shook her head.
"I don't think that's the best idea, Doug. You're very nice, but we won't be in any classes together, and I just don't have time for friends outside of class. You understand, right?"
Doug nodded slowly, "Yeah, sure. I'll see you around campus?"
"Maybe," Kat replied before turning around and walking away. Doug watched her leave sadly. His best friend, gone forever.
In the next few terms, Doug tried a lot of different majors. First, he tried engineering, but he couldn't keep up with the course load. Then, he tried business, but the other business majors didn't like him, and he felt alone. Meanwhile, Kat continued through her History major, always doing well. After he had gone through what felt like every major the university offered, Doug found his way to the History department as well. When he walked into his first history class, he saw Kat sitting in the front row.
"Kat! Hey dude, how have you been!" He walked up to her and held out a hand for a high five.
Kat looked up at him disinterestedly. "Doug, I thought we agreed to not hang out anymore. Remember?"
Doug's face fell. "But we're in class together again! We can be friends again!"
"How about no." Kat turned back to her notes.
Doug and Kat both finished their history majors. Doug spent the rest of their time at the university trying to convince Kat to be his friend again, but Kat never relented.
A cat reading a book. Source
Author's Note:
I adapted the story "The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog", a Jewish Fairy Tale. In the original story, a cat and dog who were best friends decide to part ways. The cat goes to live in the house of Adam (of Adam and Eve fame), while the dog tries to make his way in life in many different places before finally settling in the house of Adam as well, which the cat perceives as a major transgression, and she refuses to talk to the dog again. In my retelling, I made the characters into college students- the dog is represented by Doug the frat boy (Kappa Shoe is not a real frat, to my knowledge), who, like the common characterization of a dog, is happy, friendly, and very persistent, though not necessarily the brightest, while the cat is represented by Kat, who I tried to portray as somewhat aloof and generally irritable and contrary, as when she gives Doug a fist bump when he is clearly motioning for a handshake. Adam's house is represented in this story as the History department. The main plot is mostly the same as the original story; the changes I made were mostly superficial.
I feel bad for Doug, he was so nice and Kat wouldn't give him a chance. Aside from this, your story was super easy to read and I love that. I have never read the original story but it sounds like you were able to grasp and idea and easily change it into something new. It was entertaining and easily relatable by many. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI think it's really cool that you made your story take place at OU! Having their class in Dale Hall made is super easy to picture and you didn't even have to describe it. I did also feel bad for Doug though, because Kat seemed a little rude. I also just realized that Doug=Dog and Kat=Cat. That's funny, good job!!
ReplyDeleteHello again Raven! I'm not really familiar with Jewish fairy tales so I had never heard of the original story "The Quarrel of the Cat and the Dog" before but I liked reading your retelling of it. I would have to agree with Hayley that I liked the fact that it was on the OU campus because it is somewhere that all of us are familiar with. I like the way you describe their actions, and I think that it something I need to work on, so seeing how well you do it gives me inspiration!
ReplyDeleteHey Raven! I actually really enjoyed this story! I liked that it was short and to the point. The characters that you used were a perfect representation of the original story. I do feel a little bad for Doug, he tried so hard and still fell short. I also liked the scene that you used, making it relatable to us, as college students.
ReplyDeleteHey Raven! I think that one of the best things you did for this story is the fact that you took into account who your audience was. People love a story that they can relate to because they can see a part of themselves in the characters involved. I personally can relate to Doug for exploring so many different majors, but I can also relate to Raven because people have questioned my major at times and then they ended up majoring in the same thing!
ReplyDeleteHey Raven, fantastic piece. This was a very interesting and relevant modern take on something as old as why cats and dogs quarrel. I really liked your character Doug, he embodies a dog perfectly. I imagine him looking like the biggest, fluffiest golden retriever. I wonder who might play these characters in a short film of this story. I also really like the picture, maybe in the short film there would just be cats and dogs walking around the campus like students. One suggestion I have is to embellish a little with some description. The plot is developed really well, but this story might benefit to having a little extra description. Overall excellent job, I really like the design and layout of your website too. It definitely fits the vibe you created with “a dank room in Dale Hall.” Always nice to have a frame that creates a mood like that!
ReplyDeleteHey Raven! Reading this story I honestly could not tell which story you were drawing inspiration from, all I knew is that I felt bad for Doug. After reading your author note it made much more sense.
ReplyDeleteSo, let's pretend I'm Kat... I wonder why I didn't like Doug. He seemed like a nice guy and only wanted help with his homework. I mean maybe there was that one time when we were studying... or that one time outside of class, whatever it was I wish I would have just told him. Maybe I should have told him that I didn't like being used for my brain. And then he has the audacity to magically wind up in my class again... I don't think so! I should have told him off right then, but as mom taught me, if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all.
Hey Raven. Reading this story made me feel really bad for Doug. In the beginning I thought he was just being annoying but towards the end I felt really bad for him since Kat was just being a jerk to him for no reason. After reading the author's note I understood where this story came from and it made a lot more sense to me.
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