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Writing Workshop - 5/30 - Journalism Classroom - Tuesday Morning

Chloe was grinning as everyone came into the classroom, looking as though she'd had a very good weekend.

"Hey everyone! Welcome back. I'm glad to see you all survived the first week, and decided to come back." She may have given Cameron and Janet a special smile there. "So, last week we talked about writing biographies. This week, we're going to be flipping a bit and talking about obituaries. Sadly, everyone has to die someday - at least, they do where I come from."

"What I want you to do today is write an obituary, either for yourself, or for someone else." Chloe smirked. "Feel free to write about someone who you wish was dead, because I certainly won't hold that against you."

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"Trying to figure out who to write one for. I was gonna write one for myself, but Cam stole that idea." He was content to sit and watch her for a while.

Alanna may have blushed a little under his gaze. "It's bad luck to write about someone who's still alive as if they're dead." She fiddled with a strand of her hair. "But at least you'd have more than 'He died. No one really noticed' to write."

Kawalsky tilted his head and kept watching. "You noticed, so someone noticed. I've read loads of obituaries. There's always something you can write about them. 'Beloved father', 'good basketball player', 'made good pizza', 'never forgot to take out the trash'."

"The only reason I noticed was because I had to ride for a week in the winter to get to his funeral. And he wasn't a beloved anything. All he had were his stupid books." Alanna's voice was bitter. If asked, she would most vehemently deny the few tears in her eyes. "Sorry, this assignment is getting under my skin."

He reached out and rested his hand near her arm. "Hey, it's okay. Not all fathers are perfect. Some suck. I knew one guy in junior high whose Dad beat the hell out of him for no reason. One girl who just wanted some attention, but her Dad was always busy with work. That chewed her up inside and made her do some crazy things. If you wanna write one about your Dad, then write something. He did at least one good thing, because you're here. Gotta give him that much, even if it did only last 10 minutes. Some guys just can't...okay, I'm crossing into the TMI area now, so I'll stop. But if you don't want to get worked up, write about someone else, like that guy on Bitterwoman who died in last week's Monday episode. Y'know, the one that had his own laser-sharks turn on him?"

Alanna blinked at Charlie and manage a weak smile while trying to get the annoying blush to subside. "You make me sound sane. And yeah, I know there could be worse Fathers than mine. The head knows. The heart...is a little lagging sometimes. And Bitterwoman freaks me out. Oh! Maybe someone from Misguided." She squinted at Charlie, her eyes still a little watery. "What about you? You were still looking for someone to write about."

"I could write an obituary for the zombies from Zombie Weekend." He was really grasping at straws. "Or Church. He was Sheriff Tex's boyfriend's ghost who possessed me last semester. Or an obituary for rock and roll. It's just not the same these days."

"If I can cast a vote in that, I'd say the zombies. Or the snow monsters." Alanna paused. "Possibly what little sanity we had when we got here." Another pause. "Sheriff Tex didn't kill you?"

He grinned. "Tex liiiikes me. I brought her muffins."

Alanna looked at Charlie as if he grew a second head. "We are talking about the same Tex here, right? Was Mayor for a little bit and then became Sheriff?"

"Yup. Big, scary teddy bear Tex. Only don't tell her I called her a teddy bear or she'll rip my spine from my body and use it as a toothpick. I have a thing about teasing women who could easily beat me up."

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." Alanna reasured him. "It's not like I voluntarilly go out and talk to her. And I just have a death wish, according to my friends."

"There's a death wish and then there's a Tex-death-wish. I think have the Tex-death-wish, but not the regular one, because I like being alive." He fiddled with the paper in front of him. "So do you have a death wish or are your friends just saying that?"

Alanna frowned and considerd the question. "I don't think I have a death wish. I rather like being alive as well. I just have a tendency to put my safety somewhere close to last on my priority list."

Charlie grinned. "Some habits are hard to kick. That's gotta be one of the hardest."

Alanna smiled. "It's more of a personality trait."

"Not such a bad one to have. Bet it helps when you're doing the knight-training thing."

"Helps me get a reputation, you mean." But Alanna was smiling.

He grinned. "Hey, whatever works. Reputations can be pretty good for business."

"Don't remind me. Did you know there's not a lot of red-heads with purple eyes around?" Alanna blinked innocently.

"You sure? I coulda sworn I found a mail-order catalogue just for red heads with purple eyes. Not that I'd own such a catalogue, or that I'd demean women in any way and yeah, I'm digging myself into the ground on this one. It sounded funnier in my head," he grinned sheepishly.

Alanna patted Charlie on the arm. "There, there."

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Writing Workshop - 5/30 - Journalism Classroom - Tuesday Morning

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