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.

1.He dropped the ball. While most people would think that this was a metaphor
of some type, in Joe's case it was absolutely literal. He had hopes of reaching
the Major League and that dream was now it great jeopardy. All because he had
dropped the ball.

2.Devon couldn't figure out the color of her eyes. He initially would have
guessed that they were green, but the more he looked at them he almost
wanted to say they were a golden yellow. Then there were the flashes of red
and orange that seemed to be streaked throughout them. It was almost as if her
eyes were made of opal with the sun constantly glinting off of them and
bringing out more color. They were definitely the most unusual pair of eyes he'd
ever seen.

3.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.

4.There was something special about this little creature. Donna couldn't quite
pinpoint what it was, but she knew with all her heart that it was true. It wasn't a
matter of if she was going to try and save it, but a matter of how she was going
to save it. She went back to the car to get a blanket and when she returned the
creature was gone.

5.It probably seemed trivial to most people, but it mattered to Tracey. She
wasn't sure why it mattered so much to her, but she understood deep within her
being that it mattered to her. So for the 365th day in a row, Tracey sat down to
eat pancakes for breakfast.

6.I'm so confused by your ridiculous meltdown that I must insist on some sort of
explanation for your behavior towards me. It just doesn't make any sense.
There's no way that I deserved the treatment you gave me without an
explanation or an apology for how out of line you have been.

7.Do you really listen when you are talking with someone? I have a friend who
listens in an unforgiving way. She actually takes every word you say as being
something important and when you have a friend that listens like that, words
take on a whole new meaning.
8.There was something in the tree. It was difficult to tell from the ground, but
Rachael could see movement. She squinted her eyes and peered in the direction
of the movement, trying to decipher exactly what she had spied. The more she
peered, however, the more she thought it might be a figment of her
imagination. Nothing seemed to move until the moment she began to take her
eyes off the tree. Then in the corner of her eye, she would see the movement
again and begin the process of staring again.

9.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.

10.Don't forget that gifts often come with costs that go beyond their purchase
price. When you purchase a child the latest smartphone, you're also committing
to a monthly phone bill. When you purchase the latest gaming system, you're
likely not going to be satisfied with the games that come with it for long and
want to purchase new titles to play. When you buy gifts it's important to
remember that some come with additional costs down the road that can be
much more expensive than the initial gift itself.

11.It really didn't matter what they did to him. He's already made up his mind.
Whatever came his way, he was prepared for the consequences. He knew in his
heart that the sacrifice he made was done with love and not hate no matter how
others decided to spin it.

12.The leather jacked showed the scars of being his favorite for years. It wore
those scars with pride, feeling that they enhanced his presence rather than
diminishing it. The scars gave it character and had not overwhelmed to the
point that it had become ratty. The jacket was in its prime and it knew it.

13.The towels had been hanging from the rod for years. They were stained and
worn, and quite frankly, just plain ugly. Debra didn't want to touch them but she
really didn't have a choice. It was important for her to see what was living
within them.

14.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.

15.Welcome to my world. You will be greeted by the unexpected here and your
mind will be challenged and expanded in ways that you never thought possible.
That is if you are able to survive...
16.The thing that's great about this job is the time sourcing the items involves
no traveling. I just look online to buy it. It's really as simple as that. While
everyone else is searching for what they can sell, I sit in front of my computer
and buy better stuff for less money and spend a fraction of the time doing it.

17.Patricia's friend who was here hardly had any issues at all, but she wasn't
telling the truth. Yesterday, before she left to go home, she heard that her
husband is in the hospital and pretended to be surprised. It later came out that
she was the person who had put him there.

18.Have you ever wondered about toes? Why 10 toes and not 12. Why are some
bigger than others? Some people can use their toes to pick up things while
others can barely move them on command. Some toes are nice to look at while
others are definitely not something you want to look at. Toes can be stubbed
and make us scream. Toes help us balance and walk. 10 toes are just something
to ponder.

19.The alarm went off and Jake rose awake. Rising early had become a daily
ritual, one that he could not fully explain. From the outside, it was a wonder
that he was able to get up so early each morning for someone who had
absolutely no plans to be productive during the entire day.

20.Was it a whisper or was it the wind? He wasn't quite sure. He thought he

heard a voice but at this moment all he could hear was the wind rustling the
leaves of the trees all around him. He stopped and listened more intently to see
if he could hear the voice again. Nothing but the wind rustling the leaves could
be heard. He was about to continue his walk when he felt a hand on his
shoulder, and he quickly turned to see who it was. There was nobody there, but
he heard the voice again.

21.There was a time and a place for Stephanie to use her magic. The problem
was that she had a difficult time determining this. She wished she could simply
use it when the desire hit and there wouldn't be any unforeseen consequences.
Unfortunately, that's not how it worked and the consequences could be
devastating if she accidentally used her magic at the wrong time.

22.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.

23.It was just a burger. Why couldn't she understand that? She knew he'd
completely changed his life around her eating habits, so why couldn't she give
him a break this one time? She wasn't even supposed to have found out. Yes, he
had promised her and yes, he had broken that promise, but still in his mind, all
it had been was just a burger.
24.A long black shadow slid across the pavement near their feet and the five
Venusians, very much startled, looked overhead. They were barely in time to
see the huge gray form of the carnivore before it vanished behind a sign atop a
nearby building which bore the mystifying information "Pepsi-Cola."

25.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.

26.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.

27.The alarm went off at exactly 6:00 AM as it had every morning for the past
five years. Barbara began her morning and was ready to eat breakfast by 7:00
AM. The day appeared to be as normal as any other, but that was about to
change. In fact, it was going to change at exactly 7:23 AM.

28.A two-inch layer of freshly fallen snow covered the yard. Stacey peeked
outside. To most, it would have been a beautiful sight worthy of taking a photo
to put on Instagram. For Stacey, it meant something different. The first snow of
the year brought back the witches as the fairies in the yard had to seek shelter
to avoid the cold.

29.She had a terrible habit o comparing her life to 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.

30.The bridge spanning a 100-foot gully stood in front of him as the last
obstacle blocking him from reaching his destination. While people may have
called it a "bridge", the reality was it was nothing more than splintered wooden
planks held together by rotting ropes. It was questionable whether it would hold
the weight of a child, let alone the weight of a grown man. The problem was
there was no other way across the gully, and this played into his calculations of
whether or not it was worth the risk of trying to cross it.

31.His parents continued to question him. He didn't know what to say to them
since they refused to believe the truth. He explained again and again, and they
dismissed his explanation as a figment of his imagination. There was no way
that grandpa, who had been dead for five years, could have told him where the
treasure had been hidden. Of course, it didn't help that grandpa was roaring
with laughter in the chair next to him as he tried to explain once again how he'd
found it.
32.The light was out on the front porch of the house. This was strange. Judy
couldn't remember a time when she had ever seen it out. She hopped out of her
car and walked to the door. It was slightly ajar and she knew this meant
something terrible. She gently pushed the door open and hall her fears were
realized. "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" everyone shouted.

33.She has seen this scene before. It had come to her in dreams many times
before. She had to pinch herself to make sure it wasn't a dream again. As her
fingers squeezed against her arm, she felt the pain. It was this pain that
immediately woke her up.

34.She looked at her little girl who was about to become a teen. She tried to
think back to when the girl had been younger but failed to pinpoint the exact
moment when she had become a little too big to pick up and carry. It hit her all
at once. She was no longer a little girl and she stood there speechless with fear,
sadness, and pride all running through her at the same time.

35.The opened package of potato chips held the answer to the mystery. Both
detectives looked at it but failed to realize it was the key to solve the crime.
They passed by it assuming it was random trash ensuring that the case would
never be solved.

36.He stared out the window at the snowy field. He'd been stuck in the house
for close to a month and his only view of the outside world was through the
window. There wasn't much to see. It was mostly just the field with an
occasional bird or small animal who ventured into the field. As he continued to
stare out the window, he wondered how much longer he'd be shackled to the
steel bar inside the house.

37.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.

38.Sitting in the sun, away from everyone who had done him harm in the past,
he quietly listened to those who roamed by. He felt at peace in the moment,
hoping it would last, but knowing the reprieve would soon come to an end. He
closed his eyes, the sun beating down on face and he smiled. He smiled for the
first time in as long as he could remember.

39.At that moment, she realized that she had created her current life. It wasn't
the life she wanted, but she took responsibility for how it currently stood.
Something clicked and she saw that every choice she made to this point in her
life had led to where her life stood at this very moment even if she knew this
wasn't where she wanted to be. She determined to choose to change it.
40.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.

41.The river slowly meandered through the open space. It had hidden secrets
that it didn't want to reveal. It had a well-planned strategy to appear calm,
inviting, and appealing. That's how the river lured her unknowing victims to her
water's edge.

42.What were the chances? It would have to be a lot more than 100 to 1. It was
likely even more than 1,000 to 1. The more he thought about it, the odds of it
happening had to be more than 10,000 to 1 and even 100,000 to 1. People often
threw around the chances of something happening as being 1,000,000 to 1 as an
exaggeration of an unlikely event, but he could see that they may actually be
accurate in this situation. Whatever the odds of it happening, he knew they
were big. What he didn't know was whether this happening was lucky or
unlucky.

43.The cab arrived late. The inside was in as bad of shape as the outside which
was concerning, and it didn't appear that it had been cleaned in months. The
green tree air-freshener hanging from the rearview mirror was either exhausted
of its scent or not strong enough to overcome the other odors emitting from the
cab. The correct decision, in this case, was to get the hell out of it and to call
another cab, but she was late and didn't have a choice.

44."What is the best way to get what you want?" she asked. He looked down at
the ground knowing that she wouldn't like his answer. He hesitated, knowing
that the truth would only hurt. How was he going to tell her that the best way
for him to get what he wanted was to leave her?

45.Green vines attached to the trunk of the tree had wound themselves toward
the top of the canopy. Ants used the vine as their private highway, avoiding all
the creases and crags of the bark, to freely move at top speed from top to
bottom or bottom to top depending on their current chore. At least this was the
way it was supposed to be. Something had damaged the vine overnight halfway
up the tree leaving a gap in the once pristine ant highway.

46.It had become a far too common an event in her life. She has specifically
placed the key to the box in a special place so that she wouldn't lose it and
know exactly where it was when the key was needed. Now that she needed to
open the box, she had absolutely no idea where that special spot she placed the
key might be.

47.It was easy to spot her. All you needed to do was look at her socks. They
were never a matching pair. One would be green while the other would be blue.
One would reach her knee while the other barely touched her ankle. Every other
part of her was perfect, but never the socks. They were her micro act of
rebellion.

48.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.

49.He knew what he was supposed to do. That had been apparent from the
beginning. That was what made the choice so difficult. What he was supposed to
do and what he would do were not the same. This would have been fine if he
were willing to face the inevitable consequences, but he wasn't.