Writing Exercise
Pick a color, an animal, and an article of clothing. Use these bits of information to create a character and a story.
My Chosen Information
Color- Blue
Animal- Cat
Article of clothing- Hoodie
My Character
24-year-old woman named Sasha Timble with mid-back mocha brown hair and sugar grey eyes, standing at 5’6″. She has warm golden brown skin and is a Preschool Teacher. Her favorite thing to wear is a Navy blue hoodie that her kids bought for her one year and it reads #1 Preschool Teacher.
My Writing
A young woman in her early twenties climbed out of her glacier blue Kia Rio and looked over at the coffee shop that stood in front of her. Her sugar grey eyes looked around behind her black sunglasses, hoping she had the correct coffee shop. She pushed her mocha brown hair back into a ponytail so she would be comfortable even it was a tad cooler outside.
She was excited to try out the new coffee shop that had just opened about a month ago. Life impeded her plans to go when it first opened. She grabbed her favorite navy blue hoodie and slipped it over her head, covering her cold golden brown arms. She could feel the goosebumps dance across her skin as she pulled the hoodie down, covering her long sleeve gray shirt.
The young woman locked her car and slung her purse over her shoulder as she walked into the coffee shop. The tall men behind the counter with the name tag that read Brad, smiled as she walked over to him.
“Hello, I’m Brad. Welcome to the Sleepy Kitty Cafe. Are you here just for the cafe or did you make a reservation for the cafe and to see our adoptable kittens and cats?”
“Hi, Brad. I made a reservation actually. I’m Sasha Timble,” she said, excited to get a coffee and enjoy a morning with cats and kittens.
Brad types in her name and glanced at her hoodie. “Preschool Teacher, huh?”
Sasha proudly pulled on the blue hoodie. “Yes, I am. My class bought this hoodie for me and my reservation for this cafe for my birthday.”
“That was really sweet of them,” Brad said with a smile. “And here you are, Sasha. So how this works is you buy anything from our menu and you enjoy it in our room overlooking the kitty playground. Once you are done, we ask that you wash your hands at the sinks provided in the room you will eat and drinking in. Then you go to the opposite door and ring the bell.” Brad printed out her reservation, signed and dated the bottom, and handed it to her. “You will give them this paper, sign it in front of them, and they will take you down into the kitty playground. You will also have access to the kitty sunroom, the kitty bedrooms, and the kitty library. My favorite is the kitty library because you can sit, read, and enjoy the surrounding cats.”
“Wow! Shoot, I might quit my teaching job and come work here,” Sasha said. “I would love to be in the library area and get to play and snuggle the kitties all day.”
Brad grinned at her. “I used to work at the Olive Garden.” He winked at her before he pointed over his head. “So Sasha, what can I get you this beautiful morning?”
Sasha raised her eyes to the menu, her stomach growling in anticipation. “I think I will have a large peppermint mocha with whipped cream, a strawberry-blueberry granola parfait, and a toasted jalapeno and cheese bagel with regular whipped cream cheese, please.”
Brad typed her order into the cash register. “Okay, that will be $12.75, please.”
Sasha handed him her credit card to pay for her breakfast. He rang her up and gave her the card back, along with a receipt. Brad told her to wait at the end of the counter while he got everything ready for her.
Sasha walked to the end as she was instructed and looked around the empty front of the cafe. She saw other items she could buy to help support them, like hats, mugs, and shirts. She decided on the way out she would buy a shirt and a mug.
Brad placed her order on a tray and told her to go through the double doors to the sitting area. Shasha thanked him, picked up the tray, and walked through the doors that automatically opened for her. Inside were several tables and chairs with a few other customers enjoying their breakfast. They watched and chatted d about the cats and kittens playing down below. She looked down at the ground to see windows in the ground scattered throughout the floor. She also saw the glass windows surrounding the room.
Sasha picked a table near the door that will take her down below, set her tray down, and sat in a comfortable chair. She put her purse in the chair beside her. Sasha took a sip of her coffee, surprised that it tasted so good. She ate, drank, and watched the cats play, walk, or sleep below.
As soon as she was done, she put her tray away, tossed her trash, and washed her hands. Sasha put her purse back on and rang the bell, excited to go down with the cats now. An older woman with silver hair and honey brown eyes greeted her at the door.
“May I have your reservation papers, please?”
Sasha gave her the signed papers, signing it in front of the lady, and waited anxiously as the woman with a name tag that read Diane looked it over.
“Perfect! Please follow me, Sasha.” Diane folded the paperwork and carried it in hand as she walked down the stairs with Sasha hot on her heels. “The playroom is for playing. Cats and kittens can go to the sun room through the screen door to the right. The door to the left is the bedroom where they go to sleep. You can go in there to see the cats, but we ask you to be quiet so they can sleep.” Diane stopped in the middle of the playroom and looked at Sasha. “We are building a new room to the door to the left of the sunroom, an exercise area and we are renovating their food room, so those are off limits. But the library is through the doors behind you. You may sit and read or just walk around looking at the cats who enjoy that room the most, but please keep your voice low.”
Sasha looked back at the two doors that led to the library, smiling when she saw the doors looked like that they were from an actual library. They were large wooden doors, like from those of the older libraries. Sasha knew she wanted to check out the other rooms, but the library was the main room she wanted to explore.
“Have fun! If you have questions, come find me or you can ask anyone with a nametag on. We are always walking around each room,” Diane said before she headed back to the stairs to let someone else into the playroom from the upstairs cafe.
Sasha looked at the cats and kittens around her, smiling as she watched for a few minutes of them playing. She walked into the sunroom and into the bedroom, petting a few as she walked around. But the room she really wanted to be in was the library. Sasha felt her heart beating hard against her chest as she stood in front of the doors. Shasha pushed open the doors and stepped inside the quiet room full of books. She took in the smells of the books and cats. Sasha saw a couple of other people in the library talking to some cats.
Sasha found a quiet place and sat down in an over-stuffed chair that nearly ate her. It was so comfortable. She picked up a random book from the shelf beside her and flipped it open. From what she read, she had grabbed a cozy murder mystery set in Ireland. On the first page was a price, so people could adopt the cats and buy books to help the cafe and cats. Sasha put the book down when she heard noises, like the sound of paws trodding towards her.
Sasha smiled when an orange tabby scurried over to her. The tabby looked to be around 4-year-olds and had orange eyes that matched its fur. Sasha moved the book and patter her leg, inviting the cat on her lap. The cat stood for a moment longer, just staring up at her. Finally, it leapt up onto her lap, purred, and head-butted Sasha’s hand. Sasha let out a small squeak as she pet the orange cat. The cat laid down and closed its eyes as it enjoyed the attention.
Sasha sat the book down on the table beside her and paid attention to her new friend. She looked around and then spotted someone with a nametag. She waved her hand and called out to them. They smiled and made their way over to her.
“Oh wow, I have never seen Charlie so content with anyone before. He always stays alone,” the young woman named Betty said. “He came to us as a wild ball of orange fluff when someone rescued him off the streets.”
Sasha looked down at the cat. “Well hello there, Charlie.”
Charlie lifted his head to look at her and purred louder. He head-butted her stomach, then shifted until he was comfortable again, laying his head back down. Betty smiled at Charlie and gently stroked his ear, which seemed to annoy him.
“Charlie is almost 5-years-old. His birthday is actually in two weeks,” Betty said as she took a step back to give Charlie his space. “We would love to see him find a forever home before or by then.”
Sasha scratched under Charlie’s shin for a moment. “Charlie, how would you like to come home with me?”
Charlie stood up, leaped off her legs, and stretched. He sat down and stared up at her as if telling her to get up and so they could go home together. Sasha stood up and grabbed the book she had started to read.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Well Betty, I would like to adopt Charlie here, and also buy this book, please,” Sasha said and held the book out to Betty.
Betty clapped her hands before she took the book and the three of them made their way out of the library. An hour later, Sasha finished the paperwork for the adoption, paid, and carried Charlie in a cat carrier to her car. Sasha placed the bag that now carried her book, a shirt, and a mug on the floor in front of her passenger seat. She sat her friend on the seat, ready to get Charlie to his new home. She tossed her purse on the back seat, climbed in behind the steering wheel, and took her new friend home.
