Twenty-five years Dana had been waiting.

She tried to be patient during that time

but she hadn't always managed to be as patient as she'd like. But today the
opportunity had finally come. The thing she always imagined would make her the
happiest person in the world was about to happen. She didn't know why at this
specific time she all of a sudden felt sick inside.
She counted. One. She could hear the steps coming closer. Two. Puffs of breath
could be seen coming from his mouth. Three. He stopped beside her. Four. She pulled
the trigger of the gun.
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.
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.
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.
There was only one way to do things in the Statton house. That one way was to do
exactly what the father, Charlie, demanded. He made the decisions and everyone else
followed without question. That was until today.
The wave crashed and hit the sandcastle head-on. The sandcastle began to melt under
the waves force and as the wave receded, half the sandcastle was gone. The next
wave hit, not quite as strong, but still managed to cover the remains of the
sandcastle and take more of it away. The third wave, a big one, crashed over the
sandcastle completely covering and engulfing it. When it receded, there was no
trace the sandcastle ever existed and hours of hard work disappeared forever.
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.
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.
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.