A while back I attended an introduction to short story writing class taught by my cousin Cole Lavalais. Not only did I learn about writing intriguing characters and plot in a short amount of space, I actually wrote a few words of a story in the class. She gave us Craigslist ads for prompts. Here is the prompt I received:
Playboy Magazines 80s, 90s, 2000s – $150 (Gurnee)
I have about 120 Playboy magazines. I do not know all the years or dates but quick look shows 80s 90s and 2000s with some collector additions included.
Will sell all and not separate.
Serious only.
Below is the story I wrote using this prompt:
Karen walked into the Starbucks and looked around until she saw the man sitting at a table with 3 bankers boxes sitting next to him. She looked around to see if anyone was watching him or looking into the open boxes that sat on the floor. She walked over to the table and stopped opposite him.
“Jim?”
He looked up at her, “Yea?”
“I’m Karen, we talked on the phone about the magazines?”
“So do you want them?”
“Well, I only need one.”
“The ad was clear, I sell all of them. Not separate.”
“I know, but I only need the July 1985 issue.”
“I don’t know all of the dates, but they look like they come from the 80s, 90s and 2000s.”
“Can I look at the ones from the 80s?”
“Do you have $150?”
“I have $20 bucks.”
“$150 or nothing.”
Karen looked around to see if anyone was listening in to their argument. She pulled out the chair and sat down.
“Look, I just need one issue.”
“I don’t care.”
“It’s this woman, she married my father and got him to leave his entire inheritance to her. All I have is this $20, but if I can prove that she posed for Playboy, it will break the purity clause in his will and I will get everything.”
“How much is this inheritance worth?”
