2022

1.

The red glint

VERY INTERESTING SUBTITLE

JOKLOL

IISMART
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.

It was a simple tip of the hat. Grace didn't think that anyone else besides her
had even noticed it. It wasn't anything that the average person would notice,
let alone remember at the end of the day. That's why it seemed so
unbelievable that this little gesture would ultimately change the course of the
world.

The bowl was filled with fruit. It seemed to be an overabundance of

strawberries, but it also included blueberries, raspberries, grapes, and banana
slices. This was the meal Sarah had every morning to start her day since she
could remember. Why she decided to add chocolate as an option today was
still a bit of a surprise, but she had been in the process of deciding she wanted
to change her routine. This was a baby step to begin that start.

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.

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.
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.

Sleeping in his car was never the plan but sometimes things don't work out as
planned. This had been his life for the last three months and he was just
beginning to get used to it. He didn't actually enjoy it, but he had accepted it
and come to terms with it. Or at least he thought he had. All that changed
when he put the key into the ignition, turned it and the engine didn't make a
sound.

The time had come for Nancy to say goodbye. She had been dreading this
moment for a good six months, and it had finally arrived despite her best
efforts to forestall it. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep the
inevitable from happening. So the time had come for a normal person to say
goodbye and move on. It was at this moment that Nancy decided not to be a
normal person. After all the time and effort she had expended, she couldn't
bring herself to do it.

Barbara had been waiting at the table for twenty minutes. it had been twenty
long and excruciating minutes. David had promised that he would be on time
today. He never was, but he had promised this one time. She had made him
repeat the promise multiple times over the last week until she'd believed his
promise. Now she was paying the price.

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.