The Punk: Write of Passage Writing Well Challenge Week 1

Today's writing well challenge on the Write of Passage group is character. Find someone, anyone, and build two paragraphs around them.

Do you ever see striking people and wonder what their story is? I love to make them up, entertaining my husband and children with them, or sometimes just recording them in my writing notebook.

This writing was inspired by an unlikely trio I stood in line next to at the Columbus airport last week.

Most people only saw his purple mohawk and the angry red pimples covering his cheeks. Then they wrote him off, tightening their grip on their purse and wallet, taking a step away to steer clear of danger. Rhonda saw it every day as she walked with him down the street, and it made her sad to have the world dismiss him so quickly, missing a chance to know such a gifted young man.

She'd seen his potential right away that day she was volunteering at the homeless shelter. She'd looked up to grab another can to stack up on the kitchen shelf and had found herself looking into his kind eyes. She'd assumed they belonged to a grown man, they were so weary, so tired, and she'd been shocked to find that they belonged to a young fifteen year old boy. She'd known right then and there, before she'd heard his sad story from the shelter manager later that morning, that they had been destined to meet that day, and that she was meant to bring him into their lives. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Jim to agree to foster a white punk teenager. He'd asked, "Are you just looking for trouble? But she had been unshakeable and because he was a good man who loved her, he'd finally given in and agreed to have the boy come live with them for a while.

Rhonda wiped an errant tear before Jim or the boy could see. Both were busy observing the planes taking off and landing. They both looked happy and relaxed with each other, laughing and joking. She couldn't believe they were here, about to board a plane to Chicago to bring the boy back to his parents, to finally set his story back on the right path.

Now it's your turn. Find a character, someone at the mall, a red light, the doctor's office, and write about them. 10 minutes. Go.