The "Kas Wilton" Assignment..

Elgin Community College has a fiction class. It's taught by a woman who's written a novel and she runs it like a writing worshop, not a formal classroom.

One of her standard assignments is to write a story given the first line. In this case, "Kas Wilton went to the store..."

Some people's stories have gone on to be featured in the school's literary magazine published once a year. My story was written just for fun and a bit auto-biographical... and a bit not.

Here it is, just for fun:


Kas Wilton went to the Barnes and Noble. In the section where the writing books were he found a copy of Novel Writing for Dummies. He went up to the check out where a girl of about twenty stood chewing gum. He set the book down in front of her.
"Are you a member?"
"Huh?" Kas said. He had been staring through the window at three girls outside the store, the hoods of two cars were up and the girls were trying to connect the batteries with jumper cables.
"Are, you, a, mem - ber?" the girl behind the counter said.
"I heard you the first time, you..." He stopped himself, and pretended to cough. "Yes." He opened his wallet, took out his card and handed it to her.
"Ummm..," the girl said, and handed it back to him.
"Ummm, what? What now?" He felt himself sweating.
"We're Barnes and Noble here. Your card is for Borders. See... B, O, R, D, E, R, S" Holding the card towards him. She blew a bubble with her gum and popped it.
"Oh... " he took his card back. "Well, I guess I'm not a member here after all," he said, and chuckled.
The girl stared at him with no expression on her face. She rung up the book and said, "That'll be 17.53."
Kas searched for his credit card. He could have sworn it was here. He had used it last night at the restaurant to pay for dinner with his girlfriend Janey. Not a very good dinner either. Janey did nothing but nag at him about getting a higher paying job. She wanted to stay home and start an online jewelry company and wanted Kas to help finance it. He looked out the window past the girl to the parking lot. The three girls were still there. He'd have to stop and offer his assistance once he got out of here.
The girl saw where he was looking and moved into his way. "Hello?" she said.
Kas glared at her, but she was already looking at the ceiling and humming some tune to herself.
He checked the pockets of his jacket. Nothing. He pulled out a handful of loose bills, but there was no credit card. By now, several people behind him were gathered and waiting in line. Someone behind him coughed.
"We take cash." The girl said, pointing to the handful of bills.
"I know, I know... hang on, just a second."
The crowd behind him was larger now and he heard some people mumbling and groaning. The girl sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. Kas tried another pocket inside the jacket. Nothing there either. By now, Kas felt his hair getting damp and beads of sweat creeping down along the side of his face. Fine, he thought, just pay cash and get the heck out of here, "Uh, how much was that?"
"Se - ven - teen dol - lars and fif - ty three cents."
He handed her a twenty dollar bill wishing he had had a hundred so she would have to give him lots of change. She counted out his change and gave it to him slowly. She put the receipt and the book in a bag and handed it to him. Kas tried to maintain some dignity. "I'm a writer," he said.
The girl rolled her eyes again, popped her gum again and said to the crowd behind Kas, "I can help the next person."

Kas left the store, fuming, and glad to be away from that annoying girl. He'd have complained to the manager about her except he had a mission. He had decided earlier that week that he was going to write a novel. He headed for his car with his book and got inside. He thought there was something he wanted to do. What was it? Oh well. He started the engine and was just about to put it in gear when someone tapped on his window. It was one of the three girls he had seen earlier trying to connect the jumper cables. Kas rolled down his window.
"I'm sorry," she said. "But can you help us. We don't know how to jump start our car."
Kas found himself staring. If this girl wasn't a model, he was sure she would be some day. She looked like she belonged on the cover of Playboy, Or better yet, on the centerfold. His mind drifted, and he found he was smiling, really big and obviously.
"Uh... wha... er.. what did you say again?"
"We just need to know which wire to connect to.. or the battery or something." Kas got out of his car and smelled the girl’s perfume in the air. He imagined himself a photographer and these three girls in a photo shoot in his private studio. He thought maybe he should be a photographer instead of a writer.
He showed the girl where the battery was. The terminals were under a plastic cover. He released the cover and connected the jumper cables for her. "Okay, try it now," he said.
The girl inside the car tried it and the engine started right up. "Oh, thank you," the first girl said, and came over to him and planted a kiss on his cheek. The other two blew kisses at him and waved. He stood there smiling and watched as the three girls drove away. One in one car and two in the other.
He was about to get back in his car when he saw a girl in a blue Toyota staring at him... no... she was glaring. He'd seen her before somewhere, but where? He racked his mind, and as he did so, the girl glared even more like she was trying to shoot bolts of fire at him out of her eyes. As his brain, and other parts of him, returned to earth, he thought, Oh, shit. He remembered where he'd seen her before. It was Janey.
"Janey.. uh... hi... what are you doing here? I was just..." he said.
"You asshole," Janey said, and started to drive away.
Kas ran ahead and got in front of her car and stood there. "Janey, wait," he said, and when she came to a stop, he walked to the driver side window.
He was just about to lean into the window to talk to her when she pulled his ring off her finger, threw it at him. "Keep your cheap piece of plastic," she yelled , and when he scrambled after it to keep it from rolling into a sewer grating, she hit the gas and sped away.
Kas pocketed the ring and debated whether or not to follow her and finally decided if he was ever going to get some writing done, it was going to have to start today. He got into his car, picked up the book and thumbed through its pages breathing in the scent of fresh ink. "I know, I'll write about what just happened," he thought. "That will be a good place to start." Then he saw that the three girls who he had just helped were across the street at the Victoria’s Secret, and he decided then and there to take up photography too. He got out of his car and went back into the store.