1. There are only three ways to make this work. The first is to let me take care of
everything. The second is for you to take care of everything. The third is to split
everything 50 / 50. I think the last option is the most preferable, but I'm certain it'll also
mean the end of our marriage.
2. Hopes and dreams were dashed that day. It should have been expected, but it still came as
a shock. The warning signs had been ignored in favor of the possibility, however remote,
that it could actually happen. That possibility had grown from hope to an undeniable
belief it must be destiny. That was until it wasn't and the hopes and dreams came crashing
down.
3. There once lived an old man and an old woman who were peasants and had to work hard
to earn their daily bread. The old man used to go to fix fences and do other odd jobs for
the farmers around, and while he was gone the old woman, his wife, did the work of the
house and worked in their own little plot of land.
4. It's always good to bring a slower friend with you on a hike. If you happen to come
across bears, the whole group doesn't have to worry. Only the slowest in the group do.
That was the lesson they were about to learn that day.
5. Her eyebrows were a shade darker than her hair. They were thick and almost horizontal,
emphasizing the depth of her eyes. She was rather handsome than beautiful. Her face was
captivating by reason of a certain frankness of expression and a contradictory subtle play
of features. Her manner was engaging.
6. He looked at the sand. Picking up a handful, he wondered how many grains were in his
hand. Hundreds of thousands? "Not enough," the said under his breath. I need more.
7. Do you think you're living an ordinary life? You are so mistaken it's difficult to even
explain. The mere fact that you exist makes you extraordinary. The odds of you existing
are less than winning the lottery, but here you are. Are you going to let this extraordinary
opportunity pass?
8. She didn't like the food. She never did. She made the usual complaints and started the
tantrum he knew was coming. But this time was different. Instead of trying to placate her
and her unreasonable demands, he just stared at her and watched her meltdown without
saying a word.
9. She was in a hurry. Not the standard hurry when you're in a rush to get someplace, but a
frantic hurry. The type of hurry where a few seconds could mean life or death. She raced
down the road ignoring speed limits and weaving between cars. She was only a few
minutes away when traffic came to a dead standstill on the road ahead.
10. The cab arrived late. The inside was in as bad of shape as the outside which was
concerning, and it didn't appear that it had been cleaned in months. The green tree airfreshener hanging from the rearview mirror was either exhausted of its scent or not strong
enough to overcome the other odors emitting from the cab. The correct decision, in this
case, was to get the hell out of it and to call another cab, but she was late and didn't have
a choice.
11. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies.
Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and
the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such
close dealing implied. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be
Christmas...
12. He couldn't move. His head throbbed and spun. He couldn't decide if it was the flu or the
drinking last night. It was probably a combination of both.
13. Colors bounced around in her head. They mixed and threaded themselves together. Even
colors that had no business being together. They were all one, yet distinctly separate at
the same time. How was she going to explain this to the others?
14. The day had begun on a bright note. The sun finally peeked through the rain for the first
time in a week, and the birds were sinf=ging in its warmth. There was no way to
anticipate what was about to happen. It was a worst-case scenario and there was no way
out of it.
15. What was beyond the bend in the stream was unknown. Both were curious, but only one
was brave enough to want to explore. That was the problem. There was always one that
let fear rule her life.
16. She had been an angel for coming up on 10 years and in all that time nobody had told her
this was possible. The fact that it could ever happen never even entered her mind. Yet
there she stood, with the undeniable evidence sitting on the ground before her. Angels
could lose their wings.
17. She nervously peered over the edge. She understood in her mind that the view was
supposed to be beautiful, but all she felt was fear. There had always been something
about heights that disturbed her, and now she could feel the full force of this unease. She
reluctantly crept a little closer with the encouragement of her friends as the fear continued
to build. She couldn't help but feel that something horrible was about to happen.
18. Where do they get a random paragraph?" he wondered as he clicked the generate button.
Do they just write a random paragraph or do they get it somewhere? At that moment he
read the random paragraph and realized it was about random paragraphs and his world
would never be the same.
19. Don't forget that gifts often come with costs that go beyond their purchase price. When
you purchase a child the latest smartphone, you're also committing to a monthly phone
bill. When you purchase the latest gaming system, you're likely not going to be satisfied
with the games that come with it for long and want to purchase new titles to play. When
you buy gifts it's important to remember that some come with additional costs down the
road that can be much more expensive than the initial gift itself.
20. The wolves stopped in their tracks, sizing up the mother and her cubs. It had been over a
week since their last meal and they were getting desperate. The cubs would make a good
meal, but there were high risks taking on the mother Grizzly. A decision had to be made
and the wrong choice could signal the end of the pack.
21. Debbie put her hand into the hole, sliding her hand down as far as her arm could reach.
She wiggled her fingers hoping to touch something, but all she felt was air. She shifted
the weight of her body to try and reach an inch or two more down the hole. Her fingers
still touched nothing but air.
22. He heard the loud impact before he ever saw the result. It had been so loud that it had
actually made him jump back in his seat. As soon as he recovered from the surprise, he
saw the crack in the windshield. It seemed to be an analogy of the current condition of his
life.
23. It wasn't quite yet time to panic. There was still time to salvage the situation. At least that
is what she was telling himself. The reality was that it was time to panic and there wasn't
time to salvage the situation, but he continued to delude himself into believing there was.
24. At that moment he had a thought that he'd never imagine he'd consider. "I could just
cheat," he thought, "and that would solve the problem." He tried to move on from the
thought but it was persistent. It didn't want to go away and, if he was honest with himself,
he didn't want it to.
25. Out of another, I get a lovely view of the bay and a little private wharf belonging to the
estate. There is a beautiful shaded lane that runs down there from the house. I always
fancy I see people walking in these numerous paths and arbors, but John has cautioned
me not to give way to fancy in the least. He says that with my imaginative power and
habit of story-making a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of
excited fancies and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency. So I
try.
26. She's asked the question so many times that she barely listened to the answers anymore.
The answers were always the same. Well, not exactly the same, but the same in a general
sense. A more accurate description was the answers never surprised her. So, she asked for
the 10,000th time, "What's your favorite animal?" But this time was different. When she
heard the young boy's answer, she wondered if she had heard him correctly.
27. MaryLou wore the tiara with pride. There was something that made doing anything she
didn't really want to do a bit easier when she wore it. She really didn't care what those
staring through the window were thinking as she vacuumed her apartment.
28. What were they eating? It didn't taste like anything she had ever eaten before and
although she was famished, she didn't dare ask. She knew the answer would be one she
didn't want to hear.
29. "Are you getting my texts???" she texted to him. He glanced at it and chuckled under his
breath. Of course he was getting them, but if he wasn't getting them, how would he ever
be able to answer? He put the phone down and continued on his project. He was ignoring
her texts and he planned to continue to do so.
30. It's not his fault. I know you're going to want to, but you can't blame him. He really has
no idea how it happened. I kept trying to come up with excuses I could say to mom that
would keep her calm when she found out what happened, but the more I tried, the more I
could see none of them would work. He was going to get her wrath and there was nothing
I could say to prevent it.
31. "It was so great to hear from you today and it was such weird timing," he said. "This is
going to sound funny and a little strange, but you were in a dream I had just a couple of
days ago. I'd love to get together and tell you about it if you're up for a cup of coffee," he
continued, laying the trap he'd been planning for years.
32. He watched as the young man tried to impress everyone in the room with his intelligence.
There was no doubt that he was smart. The fact that he was more intelligent than anyone
else in the room could have been easily deduced, but nobody was really paying any
attention due to the fact that it was also obvious that the young man only cared about his
intelligence.
33. Josh had spent year and year accumulating the information. He knew it inside out and if
there was ever anyone looking for an expert in the field, Josh would be the one to call.
The problem was that there was nobody interested in the information besides him and he
knew it. Years of information painstakingly memorized and sorted with not a sole giving
even an ounce of interest in the topic.
34. Sometimes it's simply better to ignore the haters. That's the lesson that Tom's dad had
been trying to teach him, but Tom still couldn't let it go. He latched onto them and their
hate and couldn't let it go, but he also realized that this wasn't healthy. That's when he
came up with his devious plan.
35. I've rented a car in Las Vegas and have reserved a hotel in Twentynine Palms which is
just north of Joshua Tree. We'll drive from Las Vegas through Mojave National Preserve
and possibly do a short hike on our way down. Then spend all day on Monday at Joshua
Tree. We can decide the next morning if we want to do more in Joshua Tree or Mojave
before we head back.
36. What have you noticed today? I noticed that if you outline the eyes, nose, and mouth on
your face with your finger, you make an "I" which makes perfect sense, but is something
I never noticed before. What have you noticed today?
37. He ordered his regular breakfast. Two eggs sunnyside up, hash browns, and two strips of
bacon. He continued to look at the menu wondering if this would be the day he added
something new. This was also part of the routine. A few seconds of hesitation to see if
something else would be added to the order before demuring and saying that would be
all. It was the same exact meal that he had ordered every day for the past two years.
38. I inadvertently went to See's Candy last week (I was in the mall looking for phone
repair), and as it turns out, See's Candy now charges a dollar -- a full dollar -- for even the
simplest of their wee confection offerings. I bought two chocolate lollipops and two
chocolate-caramel-almond things. The total cost was four-something. I mean, the candies
were tasty and all, but let's be real: A Snickers bar is fifty cents. After this dollar-percandy revelation, I may not find myself wandering dreamily back into a See's Candy any
time soon.
39. Then came the night of the first falling star. It was seen early in the morning, rushing
over Winchester eastward, a line of flame high in the atmosphere. Hundreds must have
seen it and taken it for an ordinary falling star. It seemed that it fell to earth about one
hundred miles east of him.
40. His parents continued to question him. He didn't know what to say to them since they
refused to believe the truth. He explained again and again, and they dismissed his
explanation as a figment of his imagination. There was no way that grandpa, who had
been dead for five years, could have told him where the treasure had been hidden. Of
course, it didn't help that grandpa was roaring with laughter in the chair next to him as he
tried to explain once again how he'd found it.
41. The red glint of paint sparkled under the sun. He had dreamed of owning this car since he
was ten, and that dream had become a reality less than a year ago. It was his baby and he
spent hours caring for it, pampering it, and fondling over it. She knew this all too well,
and that's exactly why she had taken a sludge hammer to it.
42. She sat in the darkened room waiting. It was now a standoff. He had the power to put her
in the room, but not the power to make her repent. It wasn't fair and no matter how long
she had to endure the darkness, she wouldn't change her attitude. At three years old,
Sandy's stubborn personality had already bloomed into full view.
43. There were little things that she simply could not stand. The sound of someone tapping
their nails on the table. A person chewing with their mouth open. Another human
imposing themselves into her space. She couldn't stand any of these things, but none of
them compared to the number one thing she couldn't stand which topped all of them
combined.
44. "Begin today!" That's all the note said. There was no indication from where it came or
who may have written it. Had it been meant for someone else? Meghan looked around the
room, but nobody made eye contact back. For a brief moment, she thought it might be a
message for her to follow her dreams, but ultimately decided it was easier to ignore it as
she crumpled it up and threw it away.
45. She considered the birds to be her friends. She'd put out food for them each morning and
then she'd watch as they came to the feeders to gorge themselves for the day. She
wondered what they would do if something ever happened to her. Would they miss the
meals she provided if she failed to put out the food one morning?
46. The rain and wind abruptly stopped, but the sky still had the gray swirls of storms in the
distance. Dave knew this feeling all too well. The calm before the storm. He only had a
limited amount of time before all Hell broke loose, but he stopped to admire the
calmness. Maybe it would be different this time, he thought, with the knowledge deep
within that it wouldn't.
47. It was difficult for him to admit he was wrong. He had been so certain that he was correct
and the deeply held belief could never be shaken. Yet the proof that he had been incorrect
stood right before his eyes. "See daddy, I told you that they are real!" his daughter
excitedly proclaimed.
48. It was just a burger. Why couldn't she understand that? She knew he'd completely
changed his life around her eating habits, so why couldn't she give him a break this one
time? She wasn't even supposed to have found out. Yes, he had promised her and yes, he
had broken that promise, but still in his mind, all it had been was just a burger.
49. Do you really listen when you are talking with someone? I have a friend who listens in an
unforgiving way. She actually takes every word you say as being something important
and when you have a friend that listens like that, words take on a whole new meaning.
50. He walked down the steps from the train station in a bit of a hurry knowing the secrets in
the briefcase must be secured as quickly as possible. Bounding down the steps, he heard
something behind him and quickly turned in a panic. There was nobody there but a pair
of old worn-out shoes were placed neatly on the steps he had just come down. Had he
past them without seeing them? It didn't seem possible. He was about to turn and be on
his way when a deep chill filled his body.