Kay walked through the front door of her sorority house and
into the living room to find one of her roommates sitting on the couch reading
a textbook.
“It’s ten o’clock don’t you usually do that in bed?” Kay
asked.
“Yeah but Trish is getting ready to go out…” Melanie trailed
off as she gave her roomie a look that had been passed between the two of them
many times before.
“To go see Chad?” Kay asked even though she already knew the
answer. Melanie just nodded in response while rolling her eyes, so Kay plopped down
onto the other couch in the room. The two of them had been finding themselves
in this position more and more over the course of the semester. They were
waiting to intercept their third roommate, Trish, and stop her from going out.
They didn’t mind that Trish went out to parties, and they would even be going
with her, if it wasn’t for Chad.
Chad was Trish’s latest hook up and he was by far the worst.
Every time Trish went out and saw him, the next morning she would stumble back
into their room swearing she was never going to see him again and made her two
best friends promise they would stop her. The first time Kay and Melanie tried
to stop her, they failed miserably. Of course, they would be the first to admit
they messed up by simply telling Trish not to go see Chad because Trish does
what she wants, especially when she’s told no.
The two quickly learned that to get Trish to stop seeing
Chad they needed to make her think it was her own idea. They did this by
telling her a story that either took so long that it was too late to go out by
the time they finished it, or convinced her to go to a different frat party.
After about fifteen minutes of waiting, Kay and Melanie
heard Trish laughing with a group of girls coming down the stairs. They didn’t
even need to discuss what they were going to say because the same series of
events happened every time Trish was going to see Chad. She began by telling
Kay and Melanie she was going out and that they shouldn’t wait up for her with
a wink. One of them would ask if it was to see Chad and Trish would act all coy
and then reveal some problem she was worried about with him. The girls would
assure her everything would be fine and not at all like insert person they all
know who has a story that is relevant to your situation. Then she would demand
to know the nature of this story and they would gladly tell it to her.
“I’m going out tonight ladies! Don’t wait up for me!” Trish
called from the living room entrance, giving her roommates her trademark wink
at the end.
“You going to see Chaaaaaad?” Kay asked.
“Maybe… I’ll see if I can fit him into my busy schedule.”
There was the coy response, which would be followed up with an issue, “He’s
been really distant lately. He hasn’t been snapping me back right away and he
almost let our streak die.”
“I’m sure everything will be fine and you’ll smooth things
over.” Melanie chimed in, “Just don’t be like Courtney and Derek and you’ll be
good.”
“Courtney and Derek?! What happened with Courtney and
Derek?! Tell. Me. Everything.” Trish exclaimed as she ran over and sat on the
ground in front of them. Her shrieks about the senior power couple of their
sorority drew the girls who were waiting in the front hall in to the living
room too.
“Okay well…” Kay
began.
The two told the group the story of Courtney and Derek and
once they were finished it caused someone else in the group to tell a story and
then someone else and so on. They did this until Kay looked at her phone to
check the time.
“Oh my gosh, Trish! We’ve been talking forever! You need to
go see Chad!”
Trish would get up, intending to go to him, but then the
first of the walk of shame girls would come through the front door and the sun
would peak through the windows, and her visit would be put off.
(Personal Photo of my roommates and I,
who may or may not have inspired this story, from April 2016)
Author’s Note: This story was a retelling of Tales of a Parrot,
where a parrot tells his mistress a story every night to keep her from visiting
her lover. As I mentioned in my reading notes, this immediately reminded me of
a friend I have who we would have to convince not to go out and see this guy
because he was just not good for her. It’s also super common when living in a
sorority house to be getting a snack or just needing to borrow a pencil from
someone and then being drawn into a 2-hour long discussion about the difference
between snappy casual and business casual. I tried to use some of the phrases
that were in every chapter of this story and made you want to scream every time
you saw them (if you read this story this week you know what I mean) because
you felt like you were living in some kind of groundhog’s day situation.
Bibliography. The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot by Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi, links to the reading here
Bibliography. The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot by Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi, links to the reading here
Hi Kelly!
ReplyDeleteYour story is something that I could see happening in our modern day world, especially on campus which makes it so much more relateable. Although I'm in a fraternity instead of a sorority, it still has an applicable aspect to it. The story was very engaging which kept my attention throughout. The dialogue was very well thought out and the pace and spacing of your story makes it very easy to flow and read. Great job on this weeks story!
Hey Kelly! The beginning of your story is relatable to many women. I know that I have tried to keep a friend from hanging out with a guy who was no good for her. I see it all the time where I work also. I like what you did in retelling the story “Tales of a Parrot”. I would never have thought to write the story like this. I was engaged and you did very well!
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your story “The Tale of a Sorority Girl.” I thought it was relatable and I could easily follow the story line while reading. I like how you drew inspiration from experiences you have had in your own life for this story. Overall, I think you did a great job this week and I can’t wait to read the rest of your stories!
Hey Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your story. I thought you did a great job to translate the original tale of Tales of a Parrot into that of a modern day story. It was also a great idea to use yourself and your roommates to help modify your story. It is always great to be able to draw inspiration from that which is around us, whether it be people or situations. Keep up the good work!