Karen waits. Waits for Mommy to come back out from the garage. Mommy told Karen to wait there, she would be right back. That was a long time ago now. Karen wasn't always at the big white building. Once, not long ago, Karen had lived with Mommy and Daddy in their big apartment in the city. There were big buildings with cars there too, but they had a different car then. Not the blue, old truck that makes the loud noises, but the big and white one, with soft, squishy seats, and a little t.v. in the back for Karen to watch on long rides to Manhattan Island. That's where Karen is now, Manhattan. Mommy says that they were only going to live there for a little while, and then they would go back to the apartment and see daddy again. Karen cant wait for that day to come.
She sits in the snow now, her legs are tired from standing so long. Karen thinks its been about 3 hours, but she isn't sure, Karen is used to this now, but the waits are getting longer. In the beginning Mommy would only be gone for a few minutes, now shes gone for hours. Karen wonders why that is. Mommy is no longer the same when she comes back from the garage either. Karen doesn't like her mommy when she comes out of the garage, shes just like all of the other people that come out then. The other people scare Karen, especially the big man. The big man isn't very nice to Karen or Mommy, and he smells really stinky. Mommy smells like the big man when she comes out of the garage, and that makes Karen sad. Mommy also looks bad after being in the garage, she says she goes to a happy place in the garage to take her medicine, Karen doesn't know what the medicine is, but she doesn't like it. The medicine makes Mommy's eyes red, and makes Mommy act funny. Karen doesn't like Mommy then.
Karen stands up as someone comes out of the garage, they are taller than Karen with brown hair, and bright blue eyes like hers, but now the eyes are smokey, and red. The person stumbles out and walks slowly towards Karen. This person scares Karen, and she wants to run, but she won't. The woman's dirty jeans with holes in the knees almost seem to engulf her body, and what figure is left is covered by the grimy gray sweatshirt, wool scarf, and trench coat the lady also wears. Karen wishes the lady wouldn't look so sick, it frightens her, but she moves on.
"Come on honey, time to go" says the woman, and Karen follows Mommy to the car.
This project was part of the Story portfolio. In this i took a picture from an artist web site, deviantart, where people from all over the world submit their artwork. After finding this particular picture at random, i wrote a story of how i interpreted what was happening in the picture. My story is written from the point of view of Karen, a 5 yer old girl, and her experience with her mothers drug addiction. I also wrote this story in third person to give it more of a childish feeling. When writing the story, i took a simple picture and made it into something relate able the provokes emotions. That is the goal of story, to help people relate. Story is used in advertising, medicine, and other main businesses around the world. Story can get people to relate more easily, and in turn care about the people. After reading this, how do you feel about the girl in the picture? Now what if i were to tell you that this girl was actually a woman's daughter who got an umbrella for Christmas, and was so excited to use it that she went outside in the snow with it instead of waiting for rain? Now you feel differently about the girl in the picture, just because of the change in story.
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