A home for creative writers

Vernon — A small but committed group of Vernon High students have joined a new Short Story Workshop and Salon at the school. Meeting regularly, the students exchange stories, offer focused critiques and enjoy a chance to talk about writing. The salon was begun by English teacher Kathy Weyant, who is also a fiction writer. The after-school meetings are on a drop-in basis to accommodate students’ schedules, so some weeks new faces join the regulars. The Salon meets at Vernon’s new Writing Center, a room dedicated for writers this school year by Dr. Charles McKay, chairman of the English Department. The Writing Center is open during lunch periods and after school by appointment and is staffed by an English teacher who is available to help students with any aspect of their school essay writing. It’s also equipped with a bank of computers; many students have taken advantage of the service. Charlie and Amy’s Rainy Morning By Kayla Marchioni After they got married, Charlie and Amy were very careful about preparing Charlie’s small house to accommodate another person. The full-sized bed was upgraded to a queen-sized one, space was made in the medicine cabinet for Amy’s necessities, and Charlie’s once horrifically unorganized CDs were stacked into neat piles to fit Amy’s collection in with them. They had thought that the newly arranged home was perfect, until the morning they noticed that they had forgotten something very important; they only had one umbrella. Unfortunately they realized this at an incredibly inopportune moment; both Charlie and Amy had missed their busses to work, and the rain outside was coming down in sheets. Their raincoats, for some reason that neither of them could remember, were still in the attic with the rest of their winter clothes. There was no way around it; only one of them would stay dry on his, or her, way to work that morning. “You have to let me use it!” Amy begged, reaching behind Charlie in an attempt to retrieve the umbrella from the closet. “No way,” he answered. “I have a huge presentation today. It’d look bad if I showed up soaking wet.” “But my boss’s boss is coming in today! It’d make everyone look bad if I came in wet!” Charlie rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. You stock shelves at WalMart, nobody cares what you look like.” Amy paused; she could see his point. But she would never let him win, especially not that easily. “Well, it’s not like your appearance will help you with that godawful presentation.” “ ‘Godawful’?” Charlie asked incredulously. “You’ve never even seen it!” “Well, I heard you rehearsing it last night. Most pretentious thing I’ve ever heard.” Charlie laughed. “Do you even know what ‘pretentious’ means?” At that moment, Amy knew that she needed to take drastic measures in order to keep herself dry. She covered her face with her hands and forced a few shuddery breaths before responding, in an incredibly hurt tone of voice, “I just didn’t want to be cold all day! You didn’t have to call me stupid!” “I didn’t say — ” Charlie started to defend himself, but changed his mind halfway through. He’d dealt with this sort of thing before, and he knew that continuing the argument wouldn’t be a good idea. “Fine. Take the umbrella.” Amy cheered up immediately and plucked the umbrella from the closet. With a smile and a “Thank you” she turned and left the house before Charlie had a chance to say anything else.