The boy walked down the street in a carefree way, playing without notice of what

was about him. He didn't hear the sound of the car as his ball careened into the
road. He took a step toward it, and in doing so sealed his fate.
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.
She had been told time and time again that the most important steps were the first
and the last. It 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.
She looked at her student wondering if she could ever get through. "You need to
learn to think for yourself," she wanted to tell him. "Your friends are holding you
back and bringing you down." But she didn't because she knew his friends were all
that he had and even if that meant a life of misery, he would never give them up.
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.
I recently discovered I could make fudge with just chocolate chips, sweetened
condensed milk, vanilla extract, and a thick pot on slow heat. I tried it with dark
chocolate chunks and I tried it with semi-sweet chocolate chips. It's better with
both kinds. It comes out pretty bad with just the dark chocolate. The best add-ins
are crushed almonds and marshmallows -- what you get from that is Rocky Road. It
takes about twenty minutes from start to fridge, and then it takes about six months
to work off the twenty pounds you gain from eating it. All things in moderation,
friends. All things in moderation.
She closed her eyes and then opened them again. What she was seeing just didn't
make sense. She shook her head seeing if that would help. It didn't. Although it
seemed beyond reality, there was no denying she was witnessing a large formation of
alien spaceships filling the sky.
It was a question of which of the two she preferred. On the one hand, the choice
seemed simple. The more expensive one with a brand name would be the choice of
most. It was the easy choice. The safe choice. But she wasn't sure she actually
preferred it.
Was it enough? That was the question he kept asking himself. Was being satisfied
enough? He looked around him at everyone yearning to just be satisfied in their
daily life and he had reached that goal. He knew that he was satisfied and he also
knew it wasn't going to be enough.
She asked the question even though she didn't really want to hear the answer. It
was a no-win situation since she already knew. If he told the truth, she'd get
confirmation of her worst fears. If he lied, she'd know that he wasn't who she
thought he was which would be almost as bad. Yet she asked the question anyway and
waited for his answer.