Week 1 Storytelling: The Girl Who Cried Best Friend

Week 1 Storytelling: The Girl Who Cried Best Friend

There was once a girl, let’s call her Sally, who was quite obsessed with one particular friend of hers. She claimed that he was her best friend. In her mind, Bob (the “best friend”) was the closest person to her. Sally disregarded all of her other friends after she had met Bob. Friends she had known for years and years became old news for her. For some reason, Sally was sure Bob was going to be there for her through it all. 

Of course, Sally had other very close friends. Christina and Joey were always by her side, even when Bob was not. You see, Sally was the type of girl who always found herself in harm’s way. Whether it be a small car crash or forgetting her homework at her apartment, she was always in some sort of dilemma. Living in a college town away from her family, Sally needed good friends around her that would be there for her whenever she found herself in a sticky situation. 

Sally lived with her three friends Bob, Christina, and Joey. Another thing to know about Sally is that she was obsessed with the notion that a person can only have one best friend. She always seemed to fall back on one person. 

(4 best friends)

So one day, Sally lost her flash drive and desperately needed to transfer a document. She called her “best friend” Bob but he said he was too busy to bring her his flash drive. Lucky for her, Joey offered to give her his flash drive, but Sally refused to accept it because that was something only her best friend would do for her.  

(flash drive)

Later that week, she was riding her bike to campus and forgot her bike lock. She couldn’t just leave her bike unlocked, free for anyway to steal. She, once again, called up her “best friend” but he was asleep so he didn’t pick up his phone. Christina happened to see Sally at the bike rack and walked up to her. Sally explained her situation to Christina. Christina told her that she could borrow her bike lock, because she was heading back to their apartment anyway. Again, Sally rejected Christina’s offer because only Bob could do something like that for her. 

(bike rack)

Because of stuff like this, Christina and Joey began to distance themselves from Sally. To their dismay, Sally didn’t even seem to notice because she was always with Bob. 

One day, Sally received a call from her mom. Sally found out that her grandmother was very sick and her mom suggested that she come visit home before things got worse. Sally didn’t have enough money for a plane ticket and her parents couldn’t gather enough money up quickly enough to help her out. Sally was desperate to see her grandmother. She asked Bob if he could spot her some money that she would pay back as soon as she could. As usual, Bob was not able to help Sally. He did not have any money to spare for Sally. At this point, Sally was willing to do anything. She decided to ask her other roommates for some money. Much to her surprise, they were not willing to help her out. They told Sally that she should just ask Bob again because, after all, he is her best friend. 

(plane ticket)

After this incident, Sally realized that she can’t just rely on one person to be there for her when things went wrong. She learned that she can’t push other friends aside because after a while, they will just leave.

Author’s Note. The original fable, The Shepherd Boy and The Wolf, was about a boy who was left to look after his master’s sheep. Ultimately, the boy found this task very boring and one day decided to cry, “Wolf! Wolf!” Upon hearing this, the villagers ran to the pasture where the sheep were. All the villagers saw when they got there was the boy laughing about the joke he played on them. Some time later, the boy played the prank again and the villagers ran to him. Again, they only saw the boy laughing. So when there was actually a wolf in the pasture trying to kill the sheep, the boy cried, “Wolf! Wolf!” but no one believed him. For my story, I thought about some people I have seen who actually think that they have only one best friend. Not only that, but they also think that they can only rely on this one person. I decided to twist the boy who cried wolf story into the girl who cried best friend. I was hoping to get the point across that friendship is an important part of everyday life, but you shouldn't be choosy about who you are closest to. 

Bibliography. This story is based on the fable “The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf” in the book Aesop for Children, by anonymous, illustrated by Milo Winter (1919).