What's
worse than having a hoard of fire ants stinging you? Being in a group project.
At least that's what Annie, a junior business major, thought. Annie is your
typical straight A college student. She always reads every chapter for class,
writes a novel when taking class note, and somehow finds time to get enough
sleep.
Annie is
not happy right now though. It's 8:42 p.m. on the day before her midterm
presentation is due. No one in her group could meet in person so they are stuck
messaging back and forth.
Annie
checks her phone.
“1 NEW
MESSAGE,” her screen blared.
“Hey
guys, so I have taken the initiative and designed the layout of our project.
Take a look and tell me what you think!!!!” a message from Hannah read.
You have
got to be kidding me, Annie thought. This girl has gone to maybe three classes
and she thinks she knows what’s going on?
“3 NEW
MESSAGES,” her screen flashed.
“Nice!
Glad someone is doing that. I don’t have time for this,” Joey typed.
“Guys as
long as I get a c in the class I really don’t care what we do…” from Ryan.
“Awesome,
I didn’t really put that much time into the layout but I don’t care as long as
we pass,” Hannah replied quickly.
ARE YOU
KIDDING ME, Annie screamed internally.
“I am
almost done with the CORRECT layout of the….” Annie started to type.
“1 NEW
MESSAGE,” her phone alerted her.
“K guys
lets call it a day and get some margs at campus corner.” Hannah replied.
Swish.
Whack. Shatter.
Annie
threw her computer across the room in a fit of rage.
“Oh crap.
Oh crap! WHAT HAVE I DONE”? Annie screamed looking at her busted computer.
Annie has
lost all of her work for the project and now has no way to talk to her
classmates.
Annie
failed her midterm presentation the next day.
This story was based on the South African story The Lost Message. In the original story, different types of ants got together to find a way to stay safe from their enemies. No one listened to each other and they did their own thing. The kind of the insects found this out and sent a messenger beetle to tell the ants the secret of unity. He never arrived to the ants so they don't know how to unite.
Same goes with this story. Annie let her anger and frustration get to her and destroyed her work. She wasn't able to finish her project and she failed.
Book: SouthAfrican Folk-Tales
Author: James A. Honey
Year: 1910
Good job of putting this story into a modern day setting. I’m sure we can all relate to the hassle and frustration associated with group projections. I certainly don’t like them! No matter what project it is you have the over achiever, the freeloader, and the people just trying to get by. I know I have fit into more than one of these categories!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kristin, you did an excellent job of translating the myth into a modern setting!
ReplyDeleteI love that first sentence talking about the ants--not sure if it was intentional, but it was such a great nod to the original myth that was about ants! When I found out the myth was about ants, that first line was funny to me, and effective!
First lines of any stories are so important! You have to hook the reader right away, and you did that! That's always something to keep in mind next time you write your story, make sure you have a great first line (like in this story!) that will hook your reader in. This can be in a funny, relatable, or interesting way!
Also, this story was good because it felt so realistic! All the character's actions and thoughts were very realistic. This can be hard to do in any short story, especially one based off of a myth, but you did it really well!
I also thought that the ending was effective. It was realistic and it made the reader (or at least I certaintly did) feel bad for Annie!
Dylan, I never expected your story to originate from ants. I like the creativity that used to make it a more modern story. I think any person that has ever been in college can relate to this story, For me that is a big part of reading, I read a lot and I need to feel something or I just feel l lost. Poor Annie, I can feel the defeat in the last line for her,. Great story, keep it up with the creativity!
ReplyDeleteHi Dylan,
ReplyDeleteI like storytelling renditions that have a modern twist and you did a good job in making it fit with the original story. Seriously thought, group projects are the worst! It’s up there with presenting to the class. Annie should have gone to the library and pulled an all nighter. That is after having a marg at campus corner first that is.