Portfolio Index

The first story is called "Frank and Ava." A modern-day and darker version of Ravana kidnapping Sita.

From Pinterest

My second story is called "The Dating Game." It is a story about Ava representing Draupadi in a dating game.

Dating Game from: Tunblr

The third story is called "The Dating Game Part 2." This concludes the dating portion of the story between Frank and Ava. 

ABC's The Dating Game

The final story in my portfolio is called "The Date." Find out how the story of Frank and Ava ends! 

From DreamsTime

Storytelling Week 9: The Dating Game Part 2

“Now that you all have heard the rules we will begin our questions with our first contestant, Mike. Once Mike answers the question Alex will go, then Will, Josh, and finally Sam,” Ryan explained.

“Is everyone ready?!” Ryan exclaimed.

The crowd cheered. Ava could hardly sit still in the love seat.

“Then let us begin the game! The first question is: what is your best quality?” Ryan started.

Mike spoke up. “My best quality would have to be my work ethic. I grew up on a ranch out in the country and learned what it means to take care of myself and of my family.”

Alex went next. “That would be my humor. I love making others around me laugh. After all, laughter is the best medicine for anything!”

“Those qualities are cute, boys. I believe mine would be my charming good looks. Hear that, Ava?” Will boasted.

Ava rolled her eyes and the crowd cheered and hollered. Apparently he wasn’t lying.

Josh started when the crowd died down. “Mine would be my patience. I have learned that the best things come to those who wait.”

Sam went last. “I’d say my honesty. You see, I am rather blunt and I don’t like to talk much.”

Ryan cautioned Sam. “That might not always be a good thing, Sam! Now on to our next question. What is your idea of a romantic date?”

*                              *                             *

Ava stared at her sheet of names. The game had come to an end and it was time for her to make a choice. She could hear the intercession and rustle of the audience in the background and tried to focus. Mike was a hard-working cowboy. He had grown up on a ranch where he had acquired his work ethic. He had a deep voice that Ava loved. Alex was hilarious. Every time he spoke Ava ended up laughing at his corny jokes. Will was just annoying and was way too cocky for her. Ava felt like if they went on a date it would be all about him. Josh was a kind-hearted man. He was always so genuine and gave his heart to the questions, unlike some others. Sam had a funny dry humor. He wasn’t kidding when he said he was blunt. His answers were straight to the point. Ava thought about each and after a while had finally came to a decision.

“Ryan, I have made my decision,” Ava said.

“Everyone,” Ryan announced, “Ava has chosen a winner! Can I have a drum roll please?”

A boom of thunder came from the crowd as they started the drum roll.

“My choice is...Mike!” Ava declared.

The crowd burst into applaud and cheered at her choice. Mike then stood up and walked out from behind the curtain. He was a good-looking man. He had short blonde hair and baby blue eyes. He was wearing a red plaid shirt with dark blue jeans and cowboy boots. He was in very good shape and his smile was breathtaking.

Ava smiled to herself  because he was perfect. Who knew she would find this gem on a dating show?

          

ABC's The Dating Game

*                             *                             *

While Frank's parents were sleeping, Frank snuck into their closet and found the family safe. After a few minutes he was able to unlock the safe. Frank smiled. "More than enough money to get me to New York."

Author's Note:

The previous two stories in my portfolio are about Frank and Ava. The latest was “The Dating Game” which featured Ava on a dating show with five contestants. This story is a continuation of “The Dating Game.” In the Indian Epic, Narayan's Mahabharata, the character of Draupadi finds herself in a swayamvara contest and the winner would have Draupadi as his wife. Arjuna ends up winning the swayamvara contest because he was able to shoot the fish in the eye. After taking Draupadi to their mother, Kunti, she mistakenly told the Pandavas to share what they had brought, not knowing it was a bride. Thus the Pandavas had to share Draupadi and she had to marry all five. In my story, winning the contest is only done by answering the questions the best. In Ava's mind that was Mike.

There were two reasons I chose to do a game show to represent Draupadi’s situation. The first is show Draupadi having five husbands through the five contestants. The second is to represent the swayamvara in a modern-day setting. A swayamvara was a practice in India of choosing a husband from a list of different suitors by a woman. Having the swayamvara be shown as a dating game was the best way I thought to represent it. There was an actual show in the late 60’s called “The Dating Game” which was played exactly like I had it in my story. The only difference was that in the TV show there were three contestants instead of five.

Week 10 Storytelling: The Date

One of the many good things about television is that you know exactly where people are and where they are going. Frank had flown from his and Ava’s hometown in Maine. It wasn’t easy breaking into his parent's safe and stealing all of their life savings but Frank was able to do it. It was enough to get him where he was going and then some.

Frank was now in a taxi to the restaurant Ava and Mike were supposed to go for dinner. It was early, only about five o’clock, but Frank wasn’t going to miss them. The taxi driver let him out and told him to have a good evening.

Frank went to the back of the building and waited for someone to come through the back door. After Frank waited a few minutes a man came out with trash bags. Before the man knew what was going on, Frank bashed his head on the side of the dumpster. Frank had taken all the clothes off the man and put them on. Frank then awkward lifted him into the dumpster and closed the top. When Frank closed the dumpster he noticed it had a lock on it. Frank fastened the lock and went inside.

When Frank got inside the restaurant he noticed the uniform he was wearing matched the bussers. Frank quickly started to play the role. Throughout the night he had gotten better and managed to not strike up a conversation with anyone. A couple of hours had passed by and Frank was on high alert. They had to be coming soon.

*             *             *

 “You look absolutely stunning,” Mike told Ava as he held her hand to help her out of the limousine. Ava was wearing a low-cut red dress and her brown hair was done by a stylist.

From DreamsTime

Blushing Ava said, “Thank you, Mike.”

The two walked into the five-star restaurant holding hands and already had a table waiting for them. The waitress took them to their table where Mike pulled out the chair for Ava to sit.

“I will be right back, doll.” Mike headed off to the restroom.

As Ava sat there she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Simultaneously a boy sat in Mike’s chair. It was Frank. Horror filled Ava’s heart and stomach. Before Ava could move Frank shook his head and made a gun with this finger and thumb. Ava, more terrified than before, started panicking. Frank had a gun and Ava didn’t know what to do. 

With a confident smile on his face Frank quietly whispered, “There is a door that leads to the back alley through the kitchen and to the left. As soon as I say to, go as quickly as you can to the ally. If you try to run or talk to anyone, I will shoot you. Do I make myself clear?”

Whimpering, Ava nodded her head.

“Go,” Frank demanded.

Trembling with tears in her eyes Ava stood up and started making her way toward the kitchen. Frank was right behind her, smiling. Once Ava got to the kitchen she stopped and looked back wishing Mike was there but only saw the emo boy. She turned back around and headed toward the door. When they were both out in the alley Ava turned to Frank and asked, “Why?”

“Because you don’t deserve this life. You have always had everything handed to you and everyone just adores you. You deserve to be as ugly and worthless as I am.”

“Frank, you aren’t ugly and worthless. Why do you think that? You had a rough childhood and I am sorry for that. Hurting me isn’t going to change anything. You are this far away from home already. Why not go further? You have the chance to start over.” Ava tried to reason with Frank.

*             *             *

Mike walked out of the bathroom nervous as can be. Ava was so beautiful and he wasn’t sure how she felt given how they met. Mike straightened his tie and walked back to the table. When the table came into sight he panicked. Ava wasn’t there! Mike wondered if it was him. He saw a waiter come up to the table.

“Excuse me, sir. Did you see the woman sitting here go anywhere?”

“I saw her go to the back with one of our bussers,” replied the waiter.

Concerned, Mike headed to the back toward the kitchen. Once in the kitchen he asked a cook if they had seen Ava. She told him she went out back with a busser.

Mike walked out the back door to the sight of a boy shaking Ava. The boy was yelling at her and Ava was crying. The boy suddenly stopped and pulled out a gun from his jacket and pointed it at her.

Mike didn’t hesitate. He rushed quietly to the boy and took the gun. At the same time he elbowed the boy in the face. The boy staggered back yelling obscenities at him. Angry filled the boy’s eyes and he rushed at Mike. Mike shoved him back on the ground.

“I will never stop,” The boy cried. “I will not stop until you get what you deserve!”

Ava was now weeping even harder. At that instant Mike made a decision. This boy was an obvious threat to Ava and would be as long as he was alive. Mike took a deep breath. He raised up the gun and shot the boy.

Ava was in utter shock. The only thing she could do was weep. Mike sat down the gun and went to Ava. He took her up in his arms.  

"You are safe now."

Author’s Note

This is the final story of my portfolio. It is a continuation of “Frank and Ava,” “The Dating Game,” and “The Dating Game Part 2.” In “Frank and Ava” Frank took on the representation of Ravana and Ava represented Sita. That story came from Sita Sings the Blues, by Nina Paley, which was a version of the Ramayana. After reading the Narayan’s Mahabharata, I wrote “The Dating Game” and “The Dating Game Part 2” Where Ava was the main character portraying Draupadi. Up until this story Frank had no one to represent. I wanted to really focus on Ava for those two stories and only keep Frank in there as a reminder. Now, Frank represents Jayadratha.

During the time of the Pandava's exile, the Pandavas had to leave and gather supplies. They left Draupadi alone with only a sage to watch over her. Jayadratha saw Draupadi and after finding out who she was he proposed to marry her. Draupadi refused Jayadratha, so he abducted her and started going to his kingdom. Once the Pandavas learned of this, Arjuna and Bhima rescued Draupadi and Jayadratha was humiliated like a slave.

I tied this to my own story in small ways. The first is when Mike leaves Ava to go to the restroom is when the Pandavas gather supplies. Since Frank already knew who Ava was and has always had an obsession, the huge fight Frank and Ava have in the alley is what I picture when Draupadi refuses Jayadrathas proposal. Lastly, since Mike is a Panadava in my story it is only fitting to have him save Ava. 

Week 7 Storytelling: The Dating Game

Ava closed her eyes and listened to the chatter of the audience in the distance. Ava had prayed over and over to get onto The Dating Game and here she was! Her prayers had been answered. She could hardly wait to get out there and be on TV. Ava still had her eyes closed as a curling iron went through her hair and her nails were being painted. When the stylists were done she opened her eyes and saw a completely different person. She was shocked.

In the midst of Ava smiling to herself as she stared into the mirror she turned and saw a woman dressed in all black with an earpiece.

“Ma’am, you are on in one minute. Please follow me.”

Ava followed the woman with a hop in her step. She heard the announcer, but couldn’t make out what he said. Suddenly a voice boomed over the audience,

“And now, ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for the lucky lady, Ava!”

Ava heard the roar of applause and it gave her feet the power to walk to the stage. Ava was so nervous she could hardly stand it.

“Ava darling, you look radiant-“ started the announcer.

A male voice cut him off and said, “Hey now, Ryan! No hitting on her!”

Ava heard the voice but the man it came from was hidden behind a curtain.

Ryan smiled. “Well, well, I meant no harm, sir. Ava, please take a seat. When the game is over, the gentlemen who won will sit next to you.”

Ava followed Ryan to a red love seat and sat down. There was still room for another.

“Now, Ava, I am going to explain the game to you and our viewers before we get started. Behind this curtain here are five gentlemen. One of them will be lucky enough to go on a date with you and the other four will not. I am going to ask these gentleman a series of questions and you will rate their answers here on this sheet. After the questioning is over you will select the man who is most compatible with you and then this gentleman will reveal himself and you two can ride off into the sunset, and by that I mean an all-paid night out. I will warn you that clips of your date will be shown next week so the audience can see how you two turned out. Now, Ava, do you have any questions?” explained Ryan.

Ava smiled. “I do have one question, Ryan. Are any of them ugly?”

Ryan let out a chuckle and the audience was overcome with a wave of laughter. Ava also laughed.

“I assure these men are very good-looking,” Ryan turned to the audience. “Audience, don’t you agree these gentleman are well-engineered?”

The audience hollered and woo’d.

“Alright, everyone, we are about to get started with our first question of the evening.”

        

Dating Game from: Tunblr

 *            *             *

Frank stared at the television fuming. Ava was a thousand miles away having the time of her life. She always gets everything she wants doesn’t she? Her luck needs to run out soon. 

Author’s Note 

This story uses the same characters that are in my "Frank and Ava" story, but they represent different characters from the epic at this time. Since I am doing the Portfolio over these same characters but I am reading something new each week I think I have finally decided what to do with my stories. Each week I will use Frank and Ava but they might represent different people according to the reading. They will still have the same characteristics.

This week I read the Indian epic, Narayan's Mahabharata. So this week I focused on Ava. I had her represent Draupadi. In the epic, Draupadi’s previous incarnation, Nalayani, prays five times to get a husband in the next life. Her mother-in-law Kunti gave Draupadi five husbands. Draupadi had a dating game of her own called a Swayamvara. In this contest the Pandava, Arjuna, wins Draupadi's hand but because of Kunti, Draupadi ends up marrying all five of the Pandavas. To make it a more modern story I changed the setting to a dating game and instead of five husbands, I had five contestants. I also threw in that at the beginning Ava had prayed to be on the show just like Draupadi prayed to have her husband. I wanted to introduce Frank in the story, just so the reader doesn’t forget his part in the story. 

Frank and Ava

Frank and Ava

Frank didn’t understand why he had been mistreated all his life. His parents never paid attention to him and yelled at him if they did. Frank was born a beautiful baby, but as he got older his parents would throw things at him. Most of the time the thrown object was aimed at his face, scarring him for life. One scar in particular ran over his eye and down his cheek. Frank had long black hair that he grew out to try and hide the scars.

From Pinterest

As one would imagine, Frank was an angry teenager. He wanted nothing more than to know someone else was as lonely, ugly, and hurt as he was. Frank had been eyeing this girl from his school for months now. Frank obsessed over her, even stalked her. Frank knew where this girl lived, when she walked home, what time she woke up in the morning, and even what time she went to bed. Frank was going to kidnap her and make her feel like he did. She was beautiful, loved, and happy. He loathed that about her and wanted to take it all away.

*          *          *

It was a Friday evening and everyone knew the only thing to do in this 35- mile-an-hour town was to go to the party the Stephensons threw every week. Ava loved going with her friends. She envied how rich the Stephensons were and how their parents even bought them alcohol for the parties. These have been going on for six months now and it grew bigger every time. It was a great spot for the police to survey for drunk drivers and underaged drinking. Ava was feeling so alive tonight. She was wearing her favorite shirt and going with her two best friends.

They arrived at the giant house and immediately jumped in to the festivities. Ava was having a blast dancing and drinking. The music was so loud she felt it in her heart as she jumped to the beat. Taking a break from the dancing, she went over to the table to pour herself another drink. When she reached for the bottle of vodka, another hand swiped it first. She looked up and saw the emo boy, Frank.

“Oh, I am sorry, Frank,” Ava apologized. “I didn’t see you.”

“Yeah? No one ever does,” Frank murmured.

Ava felt like rolling her eyes. Frank always gave her the creeps and was always wallowing in self-pity.

“Well, I’ll take this bottle instead,” Ava said.

*          *          *

Frank was so nervous and excited he could hardly wait to grab her! Frank knew he couldn’t do anything inside, so he awkwardly took his drink and went outside to wait by her car.

Frank walked outside, drink in hand. He saw the police walking up to the house.

“Young man,” a police offer addressed Frank. “What do you have there?”

Frank froze. "What am I going to do? How will I get Ava alone if the police are here??"

“Um,” Frank started. “Noth, nothing…sir.”

“Mind if I take a look?” the police officer asked.

Frank tossed the drink in the officer’s face and started to run away. The police officer quickly pulled out his taser and shot Frank. Frank fell to the ground unable to move.

“Young man, you are under arrest.”

Frank could feel the cold handcuffs lock his hands together. "How was I so stupid??? How can I kidnap Ava now? No! This ruins everything!!!"

“Officer, please. I overreacted. I didn’t mean to run. I was scared,” Frank pleaded to the officer.

“I am just taking you in to call your parents and you can go home,” the officer explained.

Frank was overwhelmed with relief. Frank got in the police car and they drove off to the station. Once there he waited for his parents to show up. Frank was excited about his parents finding out about him being arrested. It was fun making them angry.

Frank's parents walked in with steam coming out of their ears. Frank smiled to himself. Without saying a word to their  questions he walked out with them and into the car.

Author's Note: 

I got my ideas for this story from the Ramayana. More specifically, I used the movie version of the Ramayana by Nina Paley. The main characters are the modern versions of Sita and Ravana. Sita in my story is Ava, a popular and beautiful girl. Ravana in my story is Frank. I made Frank a little darker than the actual character. I made him this way with a bad family background and more hateful thoughts. This was so I could better illustrate the reason he wants to kidnap Ava. I also wanted Frank to have something wrong with his appearance. This is because Ravana has ten heads. So in the story I had Frank have scars on his face.

In the Ramayana, Ravana kidnaps Sita and leaves her locked up in hopes he can get Sita to marry him. He does this even to the point that Sita begs for death. I did have a lot of contrast between Frank and Ravana, Frank being a troubled boy and Ravana being a lustful king. This was to make my story more believable. Ravana wasn’t a tortured child but was the ruler of a kingdom. I wanted Frank to be angry and have a reason to want to hurt someone. In the Ramayana, Ravana kidnapped Sita merely because of lust. Though this is a believable reason for kidnapping, I wanted something different. 

Sita Sings the Blues, by Nina Paley (2008),