Julius – a short story

Rated PG for violence and horror

Leo in “Pet Sematary.” Paramount Pictures

Julius a story for the not so faint of heart show me warned there may be some scenes that may be disturbing to sensitive listeners reviewers apologies but the rest of you I hope you can enjoy the horror of the story story begins on the road in a semi rural area at a little house with a white picket fence set back down a long dirt driveway away from the I guess secondary Highway Novus Highway has an S curve just passed the house really great place I rolled my brother’s keep there when I was 16 oz cars tend to come down the hill Fairlane at least 30 to 40 km over the speed limit and the s-curve they cut the corners and yeah it was in my name so I get the chips that’s another tale though Archdale takes place a few years later my sister lived in the little house I’m a little house was beside my house it was great being Neighbors and my sister loved her cat Julius he was an orange striped nail Tom but he wasn’t a nasty Tom he was one of those nice friendly in your face kind of cats so you can imagine her concern when Julius went missing gone she looked everywhere for that cat she called Julius Julius where are you no cat after several days maybe a week or so or to my memory is not as clear as it used to be walking down the road past my sister’s driveway and I come to the S curve and as I’m coming closer to the hill I see a ball of fur off to the side of the road a crumpled mango body oh no! not Julius! There was Julius decapitated headless Josh his bloody stump of the neck it was horrific! my sister was away work and what was I to do I took a shower and carefully scooped up the body you do realize it was like summer and quite hot so I did what I had to do I took the body and no I didn’t put it in the refrigerator or the freezer that’s gross I actually dug a small grave close to my raspberry patch not in the raspberry patch that’s where the former neighbours buried the doll nasty children my sister came home I told her I found Julius and I told her that I had buried him and show her the grave she was so sad she was nearly inconsolable. Psy so about a week later you can imagine how to spell. Oh wait let me back up here a bit I forgot to tell you my sister was a fan of Stephen King and had recently read the novel Pet Sematary. space yes The Cat Came Back! there was Julius sitting on our doorstep licking himself very much alive. my sister scream in Terror! Okay she wouldn’t go near the cat she wouldn’t touch the cat she swore that that cat smelt like the dirt of the grave and walked with a bit of a flirt lurch the cat I’ve been raised from the dad dead! know if you’re unfamiliar with Stephen King impact stem Cemetery you won’t be too terrified or horrified.. but she had got cat was never allowed back in her house I might have told you another Tale Pier One perhaps but that’s tail has been taken old mr. Johnson and his cat the end. And now for the backstory in our neighbourhood there are at any given time at least three to five feral cats call Sharon similar genetics each card has its own doppelganger. got. Or do they? 

Story Analysis:

How does this story deviate from the conventions of written English? (Or what is wrong with the text?) To me the most obvious deviation is the lack of punctuation to tell the reader where I paused, dramatically, I might add. All of the expression has been lost as even if you yell into the microphone, THE CAT CAME BACK! or THAT”S GROSS! sadly, no emphasis is given. I see myself as a very expressive storyteller but none of that was conveyed in my story, although I did add a “exclamation mark” and it added an “!” (Is that allowed?) Okay, confession, I also may have said “period” or “sigh” which was translated to Psy.  A pause did not produce a period or comma or new sentence.  Structurally, the story is almost one long run on sentence which destroys the sense of excitement and horror as it visually appears to be “monotone” lacking in variety of sentence length or structure.  Conventions such as punctuation are needed in written stories to help to convey the features that oral language has such as tone, volume, inflection, pace and gestures.  This is where the voice to text really felt “wrong.”

Another deviation for the conventions of written English is use of proper spelling: however,  this might actually be word replacement rather than the misspelling of words as most words are spelled correctly. One such replacement was  “reviewer” for “viewer” in the second line and later “dad” for “dead.”  It was hard not to repeat the word in frustration as I watched it incorrectly appear. Sometimes the meaning is lost through this misspelling and replacement of words although the results were hilarious in places. Most disappointing was the intended  suspense and horror being lost.

What went right with the text?  The basic story remained intact despite the lack of guiding punctuation. Surprisingly, most of the spelling is correct and names of cats and people are recognized as such and are capitalized (although I have no idea who Sharon is in the final 2 lines). Homophones such as “tale” and “tail” are recognized by the voice to text tool, being used correctly.  Oddly, “crumpled mango body” created an interesting visual images that works despite the fact that it should have read “crumpled, mangled body.” Incidently, the  incorrect spelling of the word “cemetery ” is ironically correct in the context of the story as it matches the title of Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary.” In case you are wondering, according to Merriam Webster “King’s spelling of cemetery as sematary is intentional—it is a use of realism, which is the practice in writing to accurately represent real life.” To me this is an important point in my story (as well as King’s).

Ultimately, the mistakes of the text are considered mistakes because they alter the meaning of the story. “card” and “cat” are very dissimilar in meaning, for example. These mistakes include not only word misspellings and replacements but also the lack of punctuation which totally changed the pacing and the expression of the story.

Had I scripted the story, it may have been marginally more organized, and I would have included more descriptive details. I am sad that I neglected to include a few more details to set the story up and to describe my removal and burial of the body, and of my sister’s horrified expression. (I was worried it might be a bit too graphic). This is a true story and so the way it unfold is much as I have described it. Sometimes my stories ramble and go off on tangents much to the annoyance of my family. As a written story, understanding of the horror (and the humour) of the situation may have been aided through the use of conventions.  I prefer oral storytelling to written because of the ease at which one can create tension and excitement through pacing, tone of voice, inflections and use of sound effects (these did not transfer to written text well). Gestures also aid in creating meaning. Oral storytelling does not immediately translate to written.  In written stories, so many artificial or invented means are required to produce the same effects.

A few final task reflections:

This story was recorded with google docs voice recording, a new experience for me. First, I discovered that voice recording does not appear in the tool menu of google docs when using Safari browser; it must be in google drive. I can appreciate student frustration in using voice to text technology although it is, in my opinion, much more reliable than early versions of Dragon Naturally speaking. The story was an easy one to retell but I did neglect to tell it all as it occurred over a decade ago. I was only reminded of it by my sister, last week. In the retelling, I also felt that I might be judged by the content – for me this was worst than “baring all” in the “What’s in my bag?” task. Through this task, I can appreciate both story telling and writing as valuable but distinct skills.  I also see a need to create more video recordings of story telling, to be able to see and hear the rich weaving of words. With that, I leave your with Mr. Johnson’s cat.

NFB. The cat came back.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJl_4IsQJ2g

Merriam Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-spelling-of-sematary-vs-cemetery-in-pet-sematary