so in our english lessons, we've finished reading the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde, and our set homework was to make a rewrite set in a different time period with different characters and story line, but for the themes and symbolism to somewhat be the same. i liked jekyll + hyde, so i was quite excited about this homework to be honest, but it took me forever to come up with an idea. eventually, after thinking everybody's gonna do it on a teenage girl who realizes she has to change to fit in, i thought of flipping the tables, where instead of the main character being eighteen that they were eighty-one. no-one else thought of this, so i was quite happy with it when i and the rest of the class handed the homework in.

the set homework was to write an extract and a summary of our new story based on an extract of the original novel, however this extract + summary is at school, so that ain't good. instead, i can try and sum it up now, but that probably won't be as good as it can be. but i have no other choice, so let's do that!

essentially, some old guy gets diagnosed with a disease, probably cancer, that means he only has a year to live. instead of thinking oh shit i'm gonna die soon, he thinks well no-one really knows who i am, so i can do whatever the flippity-fuck i want and no-one will give two shits! (obviously, not in that tone, but you get my point.)

this old guy decides to keep a diary of what he does everyday, stating his mad adventures and reminiscing over good and bad memories alike. on the day he dies, his doctor finds the diary. i don't know what he does with it, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it, eh?

considering he has pensions, he decides to spend money whenever he wants something, rather than being rational. he buys a dog as soon as he hears he's gonna die, because he can do that now and he's lonely, and he completely changes his style, because he has no family so no-one will remember him.

speaking of family, he had a brother who hadn't married and died in action in WW2, his parents (whom were only children) passed quietly a while back, and he's never had any sort of child or spouse. he'd never experienced family and didn't really have any proper friends growing up. of course he hung around with people at school but he never stayed in touch.

this was mainly because he'd lived in the countryside with his parents and hadn't been able to talk to his friends when he wasn't at school. of course, when his parents died, he had to move elsewhere, and the only place he could afford was a small flat for two (very small people) on the bottom floor of a block. he accustomed to the city quickly, of course. as a twenty-something man, he loved the rush of the city, but as he got older he started to like it less. when he got his news though, he learnt that hating something wasn't worth your time.

to be honest, i don't know if i have enough situations or stories or character development ideas to write a sufficient amount of diary entries for this guy but i could certainly try and you could totally think of a few for me. leave feedback or extra details or constructive criticism behind you, i'd totally appreciate it. thanks for reading, by the way.

-nemo