Chapter 1-A Running Start

This chapter begins with several writing cues to begin a story and instructions to pick one and write for 20 minutes. Well, here goes...

Jason had never felt so foolish before, and he hoped he'd never feel so foolish again. Just yesterday his life seemed to be looking up, but that was all gone in the blink of an eye when he insulted the only man that could help his family. When Jason went to school that morning, he passed Mr. Hazen on the street and thought that maybe he could gain the old man's favor by helping him with his packages from the feedstore. Mr. Hazen nodded, accepting his offer to heft the bags of chicken pellets into the back of the truck. Then Jason said the first thing that came to his mind. He asked how many eggs the old gentleman's wife cooked him each morning for breakfast. The man's face turned red in an instant and he grabbed the side of the truck with a fierce grip. It was a perfectly innocent question, except that Mrs. Hazen had died three weeks previously and the whole town knew it. Jason knew it too, but had just forgotten. He stammered out an apology, but Mr. Hazen just stared hard at him for a moment as if he was memorizing the boy's face, and then quickly turned and climbed into his truck. Jason's shoulders drooped as he finished his walk to school where he sat down into his desk with a thump. He was already dreading the end of the school day when he would have to tell his father what he had done. His father would not be pleased, especially since he had planned on visiting Mr. Hazen about his watershare the next day. Mr. Hazen had not planted his grain field because he was grieving for his wife. He would not be using his watershare this summer and father wanted to rent it from him so that he could start a new field of hay. Now Jason had gone and upset the old man before his father had asked. Jason was sure that Mr. Hazen wouldn't rent the share to his father now.

My 20 minutes are up. Honestly, I don't know where this story came from, but this first exercise was fun.