Find a stranger who might make for an interesting profile. Interview this person, in person (ideally) or on the phone (less ideal). Write a lead and nut graf for the profile. Then give a brief bullet-point outline of how the rest of the profile might flow.
Tina wrote:
Dale Walters walked down the hall with a guard on each side. He was excited to see his family waiting for him outside the prison walls. As he approached the door, he paused to say a prayer. “Dear lord, I’m very thankful that this day has arrived. I never thought that I would be walking through these doors a free man.” The guards had befriended Dale and were glad to see him go.
With new shoes, a crisp navy blue pin stripped suit, and a white shirt, Dale pushed open the door and proudly yelled, “I’m free.” The first people he saw were his wife and kids. “There must have been twenty people outside waiting for me. Some I had never met. I had nieces and nephews that I didn’t know about. I was so glad to see everyone.”
After many tears and introductions, Dale was ready to leave. He had not been outside the prison gates in eleven years.
Dale Walters was charged and sentenced to twenty years for arson. Something he has always claimed he did not do. “I had left a business meeting late on January 30, 1997, and on my way home I had a flat tire. It took me about thirty minutes to change it. I arrived home and when I opened the door I smelt smoke. I called 911, but by time the fire was put out the damage had been done. My wife and children had been out of town. Thank God no one was hurt. When the inspector did his report he said the fire had been set intentionally. This could not be true. No one had been home. I was eventually arrested and charged”
The years went by and Dale did what ever he could to get a new trial, but nothing seemed to go his way. Until on day his sister meet a man that she eventually married. She told Bob the story and he wanted to help. He did some investigating and found that there had been a know arsonist that had been living in the area at the time. He was now in jail for burning down a grocery store, so Bob went to see him. It wasn’t long before this man was confessing to burning down the house. He said that he had been jealous of Dale and wanted to see him suffer.
It took Bob several years to convince the courts that this was a case that needed to be reviewed. It took two more years to get a trial date. Once the judge saw the confession, he signed the release papers and Dale was to be a free man, but even then it took several months before Dale would walk out of prison.
Dale almost passed out walking to the car. His legs were weak and he was tried. He had lost a lot of weight by worrying about his family and not sleeping right. “All I wanted was a hot shower and sleep in a real bed. The drive home was surreal. The sun was out and everything was in bloom. So many things had changed, things that I could never imagine. The town where we lived was not the same. Big buildings took up the space where the park use to be and restaurants on every corner.” When they pulled into the driveway, Dale could not believe it. The house was exactly the way it looked the night it caught on fire. “When I walked inside I knew I was home and this whole nightmare was over.’
Teacher’s comments
S. James Snyder, Posted: Jun. 22nd
Hi Tina!
What a compelling opening - the day a man is freed from prison. You've put us right there.
I think if you kept building this, moving forward, you'd want to construct a few of the key scenes that Dale dealt with along the way. I'd want to know about the day he was wrongly convicted, maybe his low-point while in prison, his feeling of exoneration when the judge finally agreed to let him out. I'd want to know more about that car ride home.
But as you've constructed it here, this is wonderful. It's dramatic, and informative, and there's a flow and an arc to it....this is life-and-death, truly-compelling stuff. Are you hoping to work with it moving forward at all??? Great job!
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