Owen is finally coming to visit me tomorrow! I feel bad that he has to drive all the way to Norman from Houston though. I wish he could fly here so it would be faster. I just can't wait to see him! I wish we lived in the same place or that we both weren't so busy with work all the time. He works at Conoco and is such a hard worker. I miss working with him at Highland Dairy but Conoco is a much better place and he loves working there. I feel so lonely at Highland without him there to brighten my day. I just know things will get better and I will feel so much better once I see him tomorrow.
Goodnight,
-Suzy
Dear Diary,
Owen is coming today! Eeeee I can't wait to see him! He called me around 9 o'clock this morning, so if the traffic isn't as horrible as it usually is he should get here in the early afternoon! I really hope the construction isn't bad so he can get here quickly. I have so many fun things planned for us! I want to take him to the Oklahoma City Zoo since the weather is supposed to be really nice and sunny this weekend. We're going to go to all of our favorite restaurants and just have the best weekend ever. I better clean my apartment and get ready since he should be here in a few hours!
-Suzy
Dear Diary,
It is now 9 o'clock at night. Owen left about twelve hours ago. It only takes about six hours to get here from Houston. I have called him several times and left several messages. He hasn't called me back or texted me and I am really worried. I've been watching the news to see if there have been any bad accidents on I-35 but I haven't heard anything. Surely if something had happened to him I would have heard by now, right? I hope his phone is on silent and there's just really bad traffic. Or maybe he's lost. I really hope he is okay and that he gets here soon.
Goodnight,
-Suzy
Dear Diary,
I couldn't sleep at all last night. I don't even know why I tried. I was so worried that I would fall asleep and Owen would call or finally show up and I wouldn't hear it. I called his phone again and still no answer. I called his mom too to see if she had heard anything and she hasn't either. Now I feel bad for worrying her. I don't know what to do. I want to go look for him but I don't even know exactly where to look or where to start. I'm also scared I'm going to find something I don't want to see. I think my best option is to call the police and report a missing person.
-Suzy
Dear Diary,
A month has gone by and the police haven't found anything. It's like Owen disappeared into thin air. Where could he be? Why did he do this? I am so sad and I don't know if I'll ever get over this.
-Suzy
Dear Diary,
OWEN IS HERE! I don't know how but he is here! He showed up last night while I was crying by the fireplace and put his arms around me. I couldn't believe it was him! I thought I was imagining things. He hasn't told me all of the details but he said he drove through a tunnel, which terrified him, and the next thing he knew he couldn't get out. He had no idea where he was at that point. When he finally found the end of the tunnel, there was an inn, so he stopped to ask for directions. He said the chubby man behind the desk was very friendly and showed him around. Owen said he had only been there for a few hours and was completely unaware that he had been missing for a month. I don't know if any of this is real but I am just so happy that he is here that I don't even care.
-Suzy
It is the image used in the story illustrated by William Pogány.
Author's note:
In the original story Suzy is actually Siwsi but I wanted to have easier names so the reader could focus on the story rather than trying to figure out how to pronounce names. That is also why I changed Dol y Clochydd to Norman. I also did that to make it modern and more relatable. In the original story, it seems as though Owen and Siwsi live fairly close to each other since Owen is walking. I chose to make Owen from Houston and have him drive because I thought it would make more sense to have him live relatively far away so Suzy would be excited to have him visit. Also in the original story Owen falls into a lake and doesn't know how to swim and then meets a man at the bottom who shows him around and tries to get Owen to stay. Since I decided to make Owen drive in my story, I didn't know what I should do that would make him get lost. I thought having him go through a tunnel and finding an inn worked out well and still made sense.
I wanted to tell this story from Siwsi's point of view because I can't imagine expecting to see someone and then they go missing for a month. It was kind of difficult at first, especially since it's a fairly short story, but I had a lot of fun writing it.
Bibliography:
Owen Goes a-Wooing from The Welsh Fairy Book by W. Jenkyn Thomas with illustrations by Willy Pogány (1908).
Liz, I liked how you modernized the story a little bit. I wasn’t familiar with the original, but your explanations in your author’s note helped clear everything up for me. I also liked that you put things in diary format and I definitely sympathize with taking a short story and having to elaborate on it and the difficulties that can sometimes bring!
ReplyDeleteHi Liz! I think this portfolio story is great! I like how you modernized the story and changed it to better fit situation today. I think it's creative that you added new details to make it different than the original. If I knew someone driving from Houston I would be so devastated if I found out they didn't come for a month! That sounds crazy! I like your diary format I think that really gives us insight into what she thinks and feels. Thanks for sharing! It's a great story!
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