He had done everything right. There had been no mistakes throughout the entire process.

It had

been perfection and he knew it without a doubt, but the results still stared back at him with the fact

that he had lost.

Turning away from the ledge, he started slowly down the mountain, deciding that he would, that very

night, satisfy his curiosity about the man-house. In the meantime, he would go down into the canyon

and get a cool drink, after which he would visit some berry patches just over the ridge, and explore

among the foothills a bit before his nap-time, which always came just after the sun had walked past

the middle of the sky. At that period of the day the sun?s warm rays seemed to cast a sleepy spell

over the silent mountainside, so all of the animals, with one accord, had decided it should be the

hour for their mid-day sleep.

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.

He picked up the burnt end of the branch and made a mark on the stone. Day 52 if the marks on the

stone were accurate. He couldn't be sure. Day and nights had begun to blend together creating

confusion, but he knew it was a long time. Much too long.

I haven't bailed on writing. Look, I'm generating a random paragraph at this very moment in an

attempt to get my writing back on track. I am making an effort. I will start writing consistently again!

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.

Where do they get a random paragraph?" he wondered as he clicked the generate button. Do they

just write a random paragraph or do they get it somewhere? At that moment he read the random

paragraph and realized it was about random paragraphs and his world would never be the same.

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.

She wondered if the note had reached him. She scolded herself for not handing it to him in person.

She trusted her friend, but so much could happen. She waited impatiently for word.

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.

The red ball sat proudly at the top of the toybox. It had been the last to be played with and

anticipated it would be the next as well. The other toys grumbled beneath. At one time each had

held the spot of the red ball, but over time they had sunk deeper and deeper into the toy box.

It was a concerning development that he couldn't get out of his mind. He'd had many friends

throughout his early years and had fond memories of playing with them, but he couldn't understand
how it had all stopped. There was some point as he grew up that he played with each of his friends

for the very last time, and he had no idea that it would be the last.

She had been told time and time again that the most important steps were the first and the last. It

was something that she carried within her in everything she did, but then he showed up and

disrupted everything. He told her that she had it wrong. The first step wasn't the most important. The

last step wasn't the most important. It was the next step that was the most important.

If you can imagine a furry humanoid seven feet tall, with the face of an intelligent gorilla and the

braincase of a man, you'll have a rough idea of what they looked like -- except for their teeth. The

canines would have fitted better in the face of a tiger, and showed at the corners of their wide,

thin-lipped mouths, giving them an expression of ferocity.

"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?

There was a time when he would have embraced the change that was coming. In his youth, he

sought adventure and the unknown, but that had been years ago. He wished he could go back and

learn to find the excitement that came with change but it was useless. That curiosity had long left

him to where he had come to loathe anything that put him out of his comfort zone.

"Are you getting my texts???" she texted to him. He glanced at it and chuckled under his breath. Of

course he was getting them, but if he wasn't getting them, how would he ever be able to answer? He

put the phone down and continued on his project. He was ignoring her texts and he planned to

continue to do so.
The amber droplet hung from the branch, reaching fullness and ready to drop. It waited. While many

of the other droplets were satisfied to form as big as they could and release, this droplet had other

plans. It wanted to be part of history. It wanted to be remembered long after all the other droplets

had dissolved into history. So it waited for the perfect specimen to fly by to trap and capture that it

hoped would eventually be discovered hundreds of years in the future.

He watched as the young man tried to impress everyone in the room with his intelligence. There was

no doubt that he was smart. The fact that he was more intelligent than anyone else in the room

could have been easily deduced, but nobody was really paying any attention due to the fact that it

was also obvious that the young man only cared about his intelligence.

Her eyebrows were a shade darker than her hair. They were thick and almost horizontal,

emphasizing the depth of her eyes. She was rather handsome than beautiful. Her face was

captivating by reason of a certain frankness of expression and a contradictory subtle play of

features. Her manner was engaging.