Something new

Last night while looking through some books, I ran across a book I purchased for one of my creative writing classes in undergrad. As I flipped through it, I noticed some interesting activites. Therefore, I decided to try one. In the book, What If?, the authors want you to "Begin a story using one of the following as your main character:

• A young boy whose father is in jail.
• A waitress who likes her menus to rhyme.
• A 16-year-old in the hospital
• The driver of a hit-and-run accident

I decide to try the first one. I sat and thought for awhile about the character, the setting, as well as the potential items on the menu. I ended up with this:

"He's in jail" was the only thing she could tell me. She didn't know what crime he'd committ nor did she know how long he was there or would be there. All she knew was that this man, Robert Blackwell, was my father. I had grown up thinking about my father but when I asked questions, my mother changed the subject or said nothing at all. Maybe she was ashamed of herself. Maybe she was ashamed of me. The only reference to my father she made was when she got uoset with me (which was on a regular basis). "You look just like that no-good- ass father of yours," she would yell. Everytime she said this, it tore me into pieces. She never knew it though...b/c she repeated this phrase until today, my eighteenth birthday.