"Pol, take steering."

The man grimaced silently as they switched places. With everyone crowded in the rear of the box, the weight might just be enough to angle the craft using the rudder and air brakes.

"You going fore?"

Hable nodded. "Listen for me."

…

I closed my eyes, holding the image of his face in my mind. Breathing in deeply, I absorbed all the bittersweetness of the moment. Overwhelmed, tears began to leak out down my cheeks.

"Are you..crying?" I sensed him move closer to me to see my face.

My…

Credit where credit is due,

Books take you places.

They do.

Outer space, Wonderland, too,

Stories bring you out,

They do.

But I,

I thought I helped you.

Me, you appreciate, true?

Yet you,

Claim books helped, not I.

Credit where credit is due.

:/ :(…

My best friend works on a tugboat out in the gulf pushing barges loaded with tens of thousands of tons of raw materials.

I was having a rough day eight hundred miles away on dry land seven hundred feet above sea level.

Work was tiring, my children were…

He did not speak. Not for days.

His dad refused to go with us. He sat in the ravine for a week refusing food and water. He cried until he had no tears left for his wife. He laid down beside her and swore he'd never leave her, a promise he kept.

He was …

When the storm abated, we emerged to tie things down and try to get a fire going to dry some clothes. I carried chunks of wax in paper egg cartons for fire starter and we found plenty of downed sassafras, which burns when wet. Mom and her covers were stil…

Elated, you approach the area near the entrance, which appears much safer than it was several minutes ago.

You can still not see too well due to the smoke that remains. You can go to the door to see better, or head back to the center of the open-air s…

The journey was tough on the elders. His mom had the worst time. She needed to stop and rest often. By the time we reached the base of the mountain the summer evenings had begun to cool. It would turn to fall soon.

We had made camp and were settling in. …

"I will help you find your wife. I promise. I will not let your parent's sacrifice be in vain." Tears sprang to my eyes then. I thought that I was incapable of feeling after so much time spent distrusting, pushing people away.

"We're definitely getting i…

Ear splitting sirens shrieked through the night. My little girl, frightened, shot up out of our bed of pallets. Bright lights flashed in unpredictable series, blinding when they exploded and again after they vanished, swallowed by the ever present dark. E…

We reached the bottom of the mountain the next day. It's steep sides were impossible for climbing. the entrance was dug into the base. Operations had been notified of our number waiting outside. The tunnel entrance was blocked by a steel door, sealed, imp…

The cabin really began to shake. Several of the crew shouted in alarm. Hable slacked his jaw to keep his teeth from rattling.

"What-"

Pol's voice drowned beneath an immediate snapping that ripped through the air like a saw. Several concussive sounds burst…

Today I tried to make a fresh start. It's still morning now.

I gussied myself up, made nice smells, chose nice duds and pretty colors, trying to be fresh.

Trying again.

I get in here and feel sucked into the vortex again, as if I were still Mrs Drudge the…

Three months later, Tenever heard the flashbang grenade go off in the next room and burst in. He spotted four targets and dropped the leftmost two. The man behind him fired twice, but Tenever had already wheeled left to face another four targets.

Two mor…

This makes me glad that I’m alive,

Despite all fears that do connive

To change that fact. I still remain

With you. So join this glad refrain:

May God and Patrick bless our bond!

I pray and hope you’ll both respond

By blessing all I sing about,

And all tho…

BILLOWS buffet 'gainst the wall

The water roils below the fall

BELLOWS blow & stoke the flames

That burn R faces, scorch R names:

FELLOWS lost, as I suppose

2 time and friends. They decompose

FOLLOWS logic 2 its end

But on its math I can't depend

FURROWS …

You grab up that welcome mat and take it with you. For all you know, it could come in handy. Then you return to the window. You drop the welcome mat at your feet and break the window open with the fire extinguisher. It's badly shattered and there are shar…

You figure you can get out safely enough if you're careful...and that includes covering up those shards of glass along the bottom of the busted window with that thick welcome mat. Good thinking!

With the broken glass covered up, you feel a bit safer. Howe…

You feel little sympathy for Ms. Brett, who failed you a year ago, even though your translation final was, admittedly, not very good. You have walked up to her feet, but now you back up a bit. You can hear her moaning. "Help..."

Decide to help Ms. Brett…

Despite your feelings about your former instructor, you decide to do what you can to save her life. Hurt feelings can be put aside: this is a human life in jeopardy, and you must do your best.

"Ms. Brett? Can you hear me?"

You stoop beside the woman and s…

Third place.

Some people would be happy that they won third place if they worked hard and tried their best. But third was a fall for me and I fell hard.

I knew I wasn't first place material, never was, never would be. I was cool with that. There would a…

When the Moulton returns to the beach by the glen

And the sappers respond to the sea,

When the paupers collect at the edge like a wren

I shall wish for a marlin for me.

.

When you warble and thrum with your throat lifted high

Rap a tum rap a tum tilly dee…

Sheridan lay on the hill amidst the sound of crickets and cicadas, the recently mown grass pricking through his T-shirt, and pointed upwards at the clear black sky.

The heavens shone down upon the lad, matching the intensity of his gaze. He could always c…

There is a journal where I laboriously wrote what she did and how it made me feel. Torn in two, because I admired her and wanted to continue to learn from her, yet she held me in her control and made me think and do things contrary to my soul.

I wrote to…

INVEST your time in righting wrongs

Inflicted by the greedy throngs

INVENT a scheme to give love power

To rail and batter down the Tower

A HEATER warms me from the cold

But THEATER could break their mold

The HEATHER sways in fields untilled

Where mem'ries…