1) Use the phrase "The ______ formerly known as ____" (filling in the blanks; such as 'The artist formerly known as Prince').(10 min)
"Queue up, come on now,"
Sherry sighed and shuffled forward another step as the kids around her formed a ragged line. When you're lined up three across, who goes first? She saw some dirty looks exchanged just ahead, as a smallish boy was pushed ahead.
"Name?"
The little boy mumbled, too quiet for Sherry to hear. The scratching of the pen cut right through the whispering.
The line moved forward another half-step as the girl just ahead of Sherry moved up to the table.
"Name?"
"The prisoner formerly known as Jen," the girl said, refusing to look away from the man at the table.
"You aren't a prisoner, but you are lippy and that'll earn you no friends. Last name?"
"Smith."
"Right." The man at the table shrugged and scratched the paper with his pen and handed the girl a slip of paper. "Next."
Sherry stepped up to the desk.
"Name?"
"Sherry Tenna."
Scratch, scratch.
"Here. Next?"
Sherry took the slip of paper and walked toward the door after the prisoner formerly known as Jen, reading the paper as she went. Nothing but a number. Nothing to help her figure out what was going on.
The guard at the door held out his hand, and looked at her ticket.
2) Write about a discovery or revelation which didn't meet preconceptions. (10 min)
He nodded. "Follow the green line," he said, and waved her through the door.
"Next?" she heard behind her, just before the door closed.
There were six lines on the floor, one for each colour of the rainbow. Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple led through a door, bypassing the desks that Red and Orange stopped at first. The prisoner formerly known as Jen was standing at the orange desk, arguing about something, waving her hands but making very little noise.
Through the door and down the corridor, the four coloured lines marched. Yellow turned off, and disappeared under an unmarked door, then Green did the same. Blue and Purple turned a corner and continued on.
Sherry knocked. The door buzzed, and she pushed it open.
"Ah, welcome. You won't be needing that," the man said, taking her paper. Now, you've probably heard all kinds of rumours about what goes on in here, but I can assure you they aren't true.
Sherry nodded, keeping her silence and thinking of Jen.
"This is a school, not a prison. I know most of you kids come here thinking it is. Now, would you like to read your file?"
"My file?"
"Yes, your school records, orphanage records, foster home records, any other records you may have. Some kids have police records, but you don't seem to." He grinned. "Very good at not getting caught, I see."
3) Use the phrase "All seemed well until he..." (10 min)
Sherry looked him in the eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."
He nodded, and pushed her file across the desk, and she started to read.
All seemed well until the man leaned back in his chair and smiled at her. His nametag caught the light. "Tom," it said, "Screening officer."
"Are you with the police?" Sherry slammed her file shut, nearly shooting some of the loose paper to the floor. She pushed them back inside the folder.
"What?" Tom frowned. "No, why do you ask?"
"Then what are you screening us for?"
"Ah. Well, we need to find out who would be ... a suitable candidate for our school. Not everybody is. Now, your not having a police record is excellent. You can go to a normal school and act like a normal 14-year-old - "
"I'm fifteen."
" - 15-year-old, and the police won't think to watch you."
"Why would they watch me? What kind of school is this, anyway?"
"Er, I'm not supposed to tell you that until you're through screening."
(Note: a variation on this exercise became the seed for my NaNoWriMo entry in 2003.)
