In the next LTE Creative Writing challenge, you are going to update the legend of Rip Van Winkle to the Spring of 2020. Find out about the writer Washington Irving and his influential little tale here to inspire your creative response.
In the next LTE Creative Writing challenge, you are going to update the legend of Rip Van Winkle to the Spring of 2020. Find out about the writer Washington Irving and his influential little tale here to inspire your creative response.
Joel Rand
Ilkley Grammar School , Year 7
I woke to my back screeching with pain I looked out to the blue sky it’s summer? We were only half way through winter I thought. Confused , I looked down, there my town lay same at first glance but I started picking out the hiding vegetables on the plate. Why it had looked so different I don’t know all in a days work perhaps.
I walked through the town unknown, unrecognisable like a ghost. It’s like I was a flower all bloomed and open to everyone who new it and I had withered away out of society. I could not make out the houses that once stood all feeble and broken what had happened. As I approached someone to allow them to explain to me the secrets I had missed when asleep. He looked right through me and walked on Ahead it was like I was window. Know one was talking all locked up in there own realm speaking to know one but themselves.
You are a master of simile Joel – thankyou for your contribution. Are we forgetting to connect, looking through each other ‘like a window’? ‘locked up in our own realm.’ Disturbing thoughts, powerfully put…
Theo Rand
Ilkley grammar school year 9
I woke up stiff as a bone, my back in agony. The ground was now harder than it was before. I stood up, everything ached. I saw the town down in the valley. It looked more colourful and vibrant. As I walked down the valley towards the town I saw that the well had been replaced for a large marble fountain? The shops were still the same shape but there were different letters, number and colours. The people strutted past me, giving me glares. They wore large and colourful coats. Some wearing large blocks on there back. They looked like turtles.
A couple of young kids walked past me with bright fluorescent hair. They also seemed to have these bright cubes shining into there faces. I asked them what the time was and they shrugged and walked off.
I walked into the old church which still looked the same but there was an extension at the entrance. The clock inside said, ‘May 5th 2019’ . Had I been asleep that long! I went down to the park where there was now a slide and colourful hanging swings. I looked into the puddle on the ground below the hanging chair. It was an old withered man. His skin rough and his shape the same. It was me.
Thankyou Theo. I like the way you have focused on the world advancing and becoming disconcerting to Rip. Using the device of his reflection in a puddle in the playground is very poignant.
When I read the story to me the man seemed quite lazy as he didn’t come back for so long after he fell asleep for a long time. The story’s moral was probably don’t take what you have for granted as he did with his wife and the life he had because before he left he was always so annoyed with her and didn’t really care about her all he wanted was to get away from her , but when he came back he found that he was old and his wife was dead and no one recognised him and that probably made him feel sad that he took all of his life for granted and he only realised this when he no longer had it any more and he wishes that he spent more time with is wife and everyone else.
Thankyou for your reflections. You sound like a more thoughtful and less selfish person than Rip van Winkle – who is actually just received that his wife is dead when he returns! Do follow the link to the story and read it for yourself. Do you think we are supposed to sympathise with him or find him lazy and ridiculous?
that should say ‘relieved’ that his wife is dead!
As RIP entered the town he expected the usual hustle and bustle but nothing it was quiet to quiet it looked normal but it didn’t feel normal no one was out on the streets not a soul he walked around the town past houses all of them had rainbows in the windows saying thank you NHS he wondered why. When he found his home he knocked on the door it was his wife WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN you have been gone for a year she collapsed into his arms and dragged him inside. she sat him down and told him about the Australian fires and corona virus he was surprised how did he miss all of this that must of Been why no one was outside on the streets Rip decided not to tell his wife about what happened and just decided to get on with his life as if nothing ever happened
Thanks Ryan. The rainbow signs would seem odd if you had been away, I agree. Are there any other observations that would seem absurd, do you think?
After walking away from the silenced roads he would have gone to charge his phone as it is the 21st century then as it was charging he leaves to go to the shop seeing the long queue off people without know about social distancing walked up to some one and ask them after they tell him he gets to the back of the queue to get his food. He’s now done shopping and is back home with his phone charged and is looking at all the new notifications about covid-19
Thankyou – yes, the lack of phone access would keep him bewildered for a good stretch of the narrative. I like the idea that he would not understand queuing at a distance.
One day a man called Rip went out of the house during the spring of 2019 to escape his nagging wife. He walked into the woods and saw some strange people playing skittles so he decided to join them and he then drank some of their liquor after that he started to feel a bit drowsy and then collapse he soon woke up and walked out of the woods to find that there was no cars in sight as he reentered his village he noticed that no one was out side even though it was a lovely day when he opened the door to his house with his keys his wife said in a teary voice where have you been you’ve been missing for a year he then replied why is no one still looking for me than his wife said due to a new virus called covid 19.
Thanks Sonny. I like your observation of the streets being empty on a sunny day. It is these kind of absurd moments and observations we hope will be recorded in the blog as it grows. What other observations would confuse someone who was ignorant of the lockdown?
It was the spring of 2019. there was a nice but lazy man called rip van winkle. one sunny
day he and his wife had a argument. Rip decided to go for a woodland walk to get away from her. About half way into the walk, where it got slight dark as there were lots of trees, he saw a shadow moving about. curiously, he investigated. to his surprise, he saw some gnomes like people playing skittles and having a drink . they saw him and called him over to play. so he did. he played a few games and had a taste of the weird liquid . soon he felt sleepy and collapsed. time went by and he opened his eyes. he rubbed his his head and was wandering what happened. he remembered he was walking through the forest and nothing after that. he got up and walk down to the village. there are a lot less cars, strange he thought. further into the village, he saw no one on the paths and no shops were open. when he got home he knocked on his door but his wife was not there. using his key, he went in. on the table was a note. Dear rip, even thought you have been gone for a year, i hope you read this as i have covid-19( the pandemic that is all over the world) i have been sent to hospital. i love you. from your beloved wife. he could not believe it. gone for a year? pandemic?his wife, ill?! how did this happen?
and nothing after that.
Thankyou Logan. What a disturbing and effective twist. I had not thought about him returning to a sick wife. Will he learn to be more sympathetic towards her in the rest of your story? Can the pandemic change his perspective?
I walk through the town, quiet and peaceful but nothing at all the same as it used to be… looking to my left, i see the postman leaving packages on the doorstep, stepping back and waving goodbye to the house owners. To my right, there isn’t much, a couple of people walking home with balanced heavy shopping bags and tight uncoloured, dark masks. The streets are lonley, you could hear a pin drop. Strict One way systems are put into place, not that anyones out in the big world.. The muted town is low and muffled. I feel like im the only person alive, the whole world has shut down and i don’t have a voice.. i cant speak.. none would even hear me..
Thankyou Charlotte. What an eerie atmosphere you have created. I love the metaphor ‘the muted town is low and muffled’. It captures those early days of lockdown so deeply and succinctly. That odd detail of the postman leaving a parcel and stepping back, too. Strange but true. You have captured this for us beautifully.
There I was in the spring of year 2018 a verry lazy man called rip van winkle ,one day him and his wife had an argument rip went on a walk in the woodland to get away from her a shadow started moving around him curiously he went to investigate . But what her soaw was odd he saw some gnomes playing skittles and having some a cold drink they called him so he went over and played some games to and had some of yhat strange liquid,after he was sleepy and felt odd…
Thanks Bea..could you now take your story to the moment he wakes up…during this pandemic era?
“I had woken up, stiff and in pain. The mysterious group of men were nowhere to be found. I got up, feeling a sharp pain in my back, and all over my body. I was able to stumble back to my humble village, but it all changed. I looked around me to find people I did not know, they did not look anywhere near me… It felt like I was completely invisible to them all. I touched my chin in disbelief, only to feel the thick hairs of a beard. I stumbled towards my house, which was the only building I recognised… I knocked loudly, there was no answer. I had used my key, which was now rusted and had lost it’s colour. I went inside, only to find a dark, empty, rusted room. I then discovered a note from my wife.
‘Dearest Rip, I have waited for you to arrive back home, but you never returned to me. Did you flee the village? Were you injured during your journey? I do not know why, but I have left the village. I won’t return… If you are reading this, do not try to find me. I do not want to see you…‘
I had stood there for what felt like an hour before I stumbled out of the house. I looked around me once more to know that I had been asleep for a very long time, and that I would never see my wife again. I slowly walked back inside my house. I sat on the nearest chair I could find and looked around me. The memories in the house had faded away, and dust loomed in the air. Many cobwebs laid scattered in the corners of the room and all the curtains were torn and faded. I decided to live my remaining days in that house and live with the burden that all the things I loved had left without me. I am alone. I am old. I am weak. I want people to tell this story for generations to come, so I tell this story to the good citizens here everyday, hoping the story will be learned by many others. I want people to know how much of a lazy, immature man I once was…
When is the deadline?
The deadline? There is no deadline for the Rip Van Winkle writing. It is not a competition.
Sharp and fierce pains raged his body, Rip van Winkle stared up at a blooming tree then looked down at his rigid body. He just lay there for a bit, flexing his fingers and toes and trying to regain control and comfort of his body. When he felt more human he grasped at the ground and tried to pull himself up, he fell immediately and felt himself to be weak. He waited again, and again and on the fifth time he managed to prop himself up. “ Uugghh” He said with a groan of discomfort. His head was spinning and his legs felt on fire, he looked around at his surroundings all blurry and discontent.
“Uuughh my head hurts!” I said rubbing my sweaty palm across my dirty forehead. “Maybe them wood folk drugged me with their sickly liquor, Morons!” I yelled to the trees for no others were listening to my unsettling groans. I rubbed my head in pain to find it surrounded in tangled strands of hair dirty and lice infested. “What in GOD’s name is this!” I shouted moulding my hair with my hands it had grown so tremendously to my shoulders with this neglected beard covering the entire of my bare neck.
Startled he shoot up in rage and confusion his legs and arms felt tangled and twisted but he did not care, he took a couple of steps as fast as he could ( a mild pace at most) and began his way out of the woods. It took him half an hour to even figure out where to start. The trees had changed once blooming were now dying and most trees originally about him were cut to stumps and many had fallen. He looked around in despair for how was he suppose to get out if he couldn’t even remember a single tree, this was a new world to him and he couldn’t figure out what path to take. Headstrong and bored of this now he took a stroll down by where most trees were cut as this way he could see were a picnic area used to be.
“Where is everyone?” I said in disbelief there was no one here. It was a lovely day I thought, I slid my left hand into my trousers pocket to check the temperature on my phone and the day, but my phone was dead. I looked around and again started to walk, I saw a family: two children, mum, a dad, and a nan and a grandad. However the Nan and Grandad were about 4 meters away from the others!
Rip Van Winkle thought to himself, how odd, but his stupidity blinded him and so he carried on. He walked out of the woods onto a road, the road was a deserted place there were no screaming engines or roars of motorbikes merely the sound of the wind and the birds singing their tunes. Stumped he sat by the road and focused very carefully to see the if any car went by or that liquor was playing tricks on him. He waited half an hour but not even a bike passed, he gave up and went on.
He went through the narrow paths to lead to his home, he went through the road with all the shops and froze. Only one shop was open, and it was presented with a shop assistant wearing a mask, how peculiar he thought. Rip Van Winkle started to walk near the shop in pure curiosity, he went to walk past the man.
“Excuse me sir, you have to wait in line there is a customer already in the shop.” Said the man with a sweaty fore brow.
“There is only one person in there, surely there can be one more!” Said Rip Van Winkle in a huff trying to get in.
“this is government policy, one person in a shop at a time!” Said the man with deep suspicion.
“ The government have changed shopping policies in what a couple of hours?” Asked Rip Van Winkle getting very impatient.
“Sir it is for your safety, and the safety of others! And if you do not leave we shall call the police, Sir!” Said the shop assistant outraged by this mans behaviour.
Rip Van Winkle went red with rage the vein in his head almost popping but he held it in and began to walk away. He took five steps and looked up to see a big board (which would be normally covered in a fish finger advert) and it said “CORONA VIRUS: STAY ALERT, CONTROL THE VIRUS, SAVE LIVES 2020. With an image of people staying two meters apart. Rip Van Winkle froze in astonishment, was this a joke? Was the liquor playing tricks on him?
He ran back to the assistant who still looked startled but angry.
“I am sorry, but can you tell me the year please?”
“2020” He answered back a bit sarcastically.
“ 2020!” Rip Van Winkle shouted at the top of his lungs.
The assistant looked dead straight at him “Do you need me to call someone, are you okay?” He looked up and down the man, he did look a bit raggedy maybe he was homeless.
“I am fine thank you” He gasped as he realised he must of sounded insane. He took a short stroll to his house wondering about everything that had happened, Was his nagging wife still alive, or was he now free?
He walked and walked looking around at the empty world going past two meter stickers on the floor and everything almost shut. It looked like an apocalypse had happened and this is what remained a silent world.