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.

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.

Betty decided to write a short story and she was sure it was going to be amazing.
She had already written it in her head and each time she thought about it she
grinned from ear to ear knowing how wonderful it would be. She could imagine the
accolades coming in and the praise she would receive for creating such a wonderful
piece. She was therefore extremely frustrated when she actually sat down to write
the short story and the story that was so beautiful inside her head refused to come
out that way on paper.

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.

There was a leak in the boat. Nobody had yet 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.

It all started with the computer. Had he known what was to follow, he would have
never logged on that day. But the truth was there was no way to know what was about
to happen. So Dave pressed the start button, the computer booted up, the screen
came alive, and everything Dave knew to be true no longer was.

"Begin today!" That's all the note said. There was no indication from where it came
or who may have written it. Had it been meant for someone else? Meghan looked
around the room, but nobody made eye contact back. For a brief moment, she thought
it might be a message for her to follow her dreams, but ultimately decided it was
easier to ignore it as she crumpled it up and threw it away.

There was something beautiful in his hate. It wasn't the hate itself as it was a
disgusting display of racism and intolerance. It was what propelled the hate and
the fact that although he had this hate, he didn't understand where it came from.
It was at that moment that she realized that there was hope in changing him.

Sometimes it just doesn't make sense. The man walking down the street in a banana
suit. The llama standing in the middle of the road. The fairies dancing in front of
the car window. The fact that all of this was actually happening and wasn't a
dream.

Hopes and dreams were dashed that day. It should have been expected, but it still
came as a shock. The warning signs had been ignored in favor of the possibility,
however remote, that it could actually happen. That possibility had grown from hope
to an undeniable belief it must be destiny. That was until it wasn't and the hopes
and dreams came crashing down.