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.

She didn't understand how changed worked. When she looked at today compared to yesterday,

there was nothing that she could see that was different. Yet, when she looked at today compared to

last year, she couldn't see how anything was ever the same.

There was something in the tree. It was difficult to tell from the ground, but Rachael could see

movement. She squinted her eyes and peered in the direction of the movement, trying to decipher

exactly what she had spied. The more she peered, however, the more she thought it might be a

figment of her imagination. Nothing seemed to move until the moment she began to take her eyes

off the tree. Then in the corner of her eye, she would see the movement again and begin the

process of staring again.

I'm heading back to Colorado tomorrow after being down in Santa Barbara over the weekend for the

festival there. I will be making October plans once there and will try to arrange so I'm back here for

the birthday if possible. I'll let you know as soon as I know the doctor's appointment schedule and

my flight plans.

Don't be scared. The things out there that are unknown aren't scary in themselves. They are just

unknown at the moment. Take the time to know them before you list them as scary. Then the world

will be a much less scary place for you.

He sat staring at the person in the train stopped at the station going in the opposite direction. She

sat staring ahead, never noticing that she was being watched. Both trains began to move and he
knew that in another timeline or in another universe, they had been happy together.

Balloons are pretty and come in different colors, different shapes, different sizes, and they can even

adjust sizes as needed. But don't make them too big or they might just pop, and then bye-bye

balloon. It'll be gone and lost for the rest of mankind. They can serve a variety of purposes, from

decorating to water balloon wars. You just have to use your head to think a little bit about what to do

with them.

She patiently waited for his number to be called. She had no desire to be there, but her mom had

insisted that she go. She's resisted at first, but over time she realized it was simply easier to

appease her and go. Mom tended to be that way. She would keep insisting until you wore down and

did what she wanted. So, here she sat, patiently waiting for her number to be called.

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.

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.

Stranded. Yes, she was now the first person ever to land on Venus, but that was of little

consequence. Her name would be read by millions in school as the first to land here, but that

celebrity would never actually be seen by her. She looked at the control panel and knew there was

nothing that would ever get it back into working order. She was the first and it was not clear this

would also be her last.

was something that she carried within her in everything she did, but then he showed up and

disrupted everything. He told her that she had it wrong. The first step wasn't the most important. The

last step wasn't the most important. It was the next step that was the most important.

Stranded. Yes, she was now the first person ever to land on Venus, but that was of little

consequence. Her name would be read by millions in school as the first to land here, but that

celebrity would never actually be seen by her. She looked at the control panel and knew there was

nothing that would ever get it back into working order. She was the first and it was not clear this

would also be her last.

A long black shadow slid across the pavement near their feet and the five Venusians, very much

startled, looked overhead. They were barely in time to see the huge gray form of the carnivore

before it vanished behind a sign atop a nearby building which bore the mystifying information

"Pepsi-Cola."

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.

She looked at her little girl who was about to become a teen. She tried to think back to when the girl

had been younger but failed to pinpoint the exact moment when she had become a little too big to

pick up and carry. It hit her all at once. She was no longer a little girl and she stood there speechless

with fear, sadness, and pride all running through her at the same time.
He had done everything right. There had been no mistakes throughout the entire process. It had

been perfection and he knew it without a doubt, but the results still stared back at him with the fact

that he had lost.

You can decide what you want to do in life, but I suggest doing something that creates. Something

that leaves a tangible thing once you're done. That way even after you're gone, you will still live on in

the things you created.

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...

Spending time at national parks can be an exciting adventure, but this wasn't the type of excitement

she was hoping to experience. As she contemplated the situation she found herself in, she knew

she'd gotten herself in a little more than she bargained for. It wasn't often that she found herself in a

tree staring down at a pack of wolves that were looking to make her their next meal.