1.

It was their first date and she had been looking

forward to it the entire week. She had her eyes on
him for months, and it had taken a convoluted
scheme with several friends to make it happen, but
he'd finally taken the hint and asked her out. After
all the time and effort she'd invested into it, she
never thought that it would be anything but
wonderful. It goes without saying that things didn't
work out quite as she expected.

2. Patrick didn't want to go. The fact that she was

insisting they must go made him want to go even
less. He had no desire to make small talk with
strangers he would never again see just to be
polite. But she insisted that Patrick go, and she
would soon find out that this would be the biggest
mistake she could make in their relationship.

3.He collected the plastic trash on a daily basis. It

never seemed to end. Even if he cleaned the entire
beach, more plastic would cover it the next day
after the tide had come in. Although it was a futile
effort that would never be done, he continued to
pick up the trash each day.

4. One foot in front of the other, One more step, and

then one more. Jack's only thoughts were to keep
moving no matter how much his body screamed to
stop and rest. He's lost almost all his energy and his
entire body ached beyond belief, but he forced
himself to take another step. Then another. And
then one more.
 He heard the crack echo in the late afternoon
5.
about a mile away. His heart started racing and he
bolted into a full sprint. "It wasn't a gunshot, it
wasn't a gunshot," he repeated under his
breathlessness as he continued to sprint.

It really shouldn't have mattered to Betty. That's

6.
what she kept trying to convince herself even if she
knew it mattered to Betty more than practically
anything else. Why was she trying to convince
herself otherwise? As she stepped forward to knock
on Betty's door, she still didn't have a convincing
answer to this question that she'd been asking
herself for more than two years now.

7. Brenda never wanted to be famous. While most of

her friends dreamed about being famous, she
could see the negative aspects that those who
wanted to be famous seemed to ignore. The fact
that you could never do anything in public without
being mobbed and the complete lack of privacy
was something that she never wanted to
experience. She also had no desire to have
strangers speculating about every aspect of her life
and what each thing she did was supposed to
mean. Brenda was perfectly happy with her
anonymous life where she could do exactly as she
wanted without anyone else giving a damn. Thus,
her overnight Internet celebrity was not something
she was thrilled about as her friends told her how
lucky she was.
 There was a leak in the boat. Nobody had yet
8.
noticed it, and nobody would for the next couple of
hours. This was a problem since the boat was
heading out to sea and while the leak was quite
small at the moment, it would be much larger
when it was ultimately discovered. John had
planned it exactly this way.

9. Sometimes there isn't a good answer. No matter

how you try to rationalize the outcome, it doesn't
make sense. And instead of an answer, you are
simply left with a question. Why?

She had a terrible habit o comparing her life to

10.
others. She realized that their life experiences were
completely different than her own and that she
saw only what they wanted her to see, but that
didn't matter. She still compared herself and
yearned for what she thought they had and she
didn't.

11. 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.
 12. Trees. It was something about the trees. The way
they swayed with the wind in unison. The way they
shaded the area around them. The sounds of their
leaves in the wind and the creaks from the
branches as they sway, The trees were making a
statement that I just couldn't understand.

13. Dave found joy in the daily routine of life. He awoke

at the same time, ate the same breakfast and drove
the same commute. He worked at a job that never
seemed to change and he got home at 6 pm sharp
every night. It was who he had been for the last ten
years and he had no idea that was all about to
change.

14.He wandered down the stairs and into the

basement. The damp, musty smell of unuse hung
in the air. A single, small window let in a glimmer of
light, but this simply made the shadows in the
basement deeper. He inhaled deeply and looked
around at a mess that had been accumulating for
over 25 years. He was positive that this was the
place he wanted to live.

15. 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.
16. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't give her a
good explanation about what had happened. It
didn't even really make sense to him. All he knew
was that he froze at the moment and no matter
how hard he tried to react, nothing in his body
allowed him to move. It was as if he had instantly
become a statue and although he could see what
was taking place, he couldn't move to intervene. He
knew that wasn't a satisfactory explanation even
though it was the truth.

17. The irony of the situation hadn't escaped her. She

had taken years to sculpt the perfect persona with
the perfect look that she shared on Instagram. She
knew her hundreds of thousands of followers
envied that life she showed and stayed engaged
with her because they wanted that life too. The
truth was that she wanted the perfect life she
portrayed more than any of her fans. The fact was
that despite all the perfection she shared on social
media, her life was actually more of a mess than
most.

18. 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.
 19. "It doesn't take much to touch someone's heart,"
Daisy said with a smile on her face. "It's often just
the little things you do that can change a person's
day for the better." Daisy truly believed this to be
the way the world worked, but she didn't
understand that she was merely a robot that had
been programmed to believe this.

20. The chair sat in the corner where it had been for
over 25 years. The only difference was there was
someone actually sitting in it. How long had it been
since someone had done that? Ten years or more
he imagined. Yet there was no denying the
presence in the chair now.

21. Twenty-five hours had passed since the incident. It

seemed to be a lot longer than that. That twenty-
five hours seemed more like a week in her mind.
The fact that she still was having trouble
comprehending exactly what took place wasn't
helping the matter. She thought if she could just
get a little rest the entire incident might make a
little more sense.

They told her that this was her once chance to

22.
show the world what she was made of. She
believed them at the time. It was the big stage and
she knew the world would be there to see. The only
one who had disagreed with this sentiment was
her brother. He had told her that you don't show
 the world what you're made of when they are all
watching, you show that in your actions when
nobody was looking. It was looking more and more
like her brother was correct.

23. 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?

24. There was only half a worm in the apple. At first,

Judy didn't quite comprehend what this meant.
"Why would only half a worm be living in an
apple?" she wondered. And then it dawned on her.
Judy quickly spit out the bite she had just taken
expecting to see the other half of the worm. It
ended up being much worse than that.