Sabrina woke up with a medley of 50s pop songs running through her head that refused to leave and was starting to affect her work as a receptionist, since whenever she opened her mouth a lyric about lollipops or earth angels would come floating out.

Unfettered by familial obligations for the first time in years, Manuel—full of ideas, dreams, plans—ended up dividing his time between watching T.V. and wandering aimlessly through town.

After drinking in a Coney Island bar one afternoon with Shorty, Alton ended up with a job swallowing swords and a girlfriend covered from head to toe in zebra stripe tattoos.

"Exercise is for the weak," said Flapjacks Butler, shoving another piece of banana cream pie into his gaping mouth, "I've never done it and could kill any musclebound jackass that came my way."

The shipment was late, the buyers were lined up and I paced nervously while Gertrude lazily followed my every movement with her .38.

While rhapsodized by old timers and the young alike and lauded by dignitaries far and wide Sam Popper cared for none of it, for there was only one he wanted to please and couldn't—his wife's tiny Pekingese "Starbuck."

When Ben was forced to spend the summer with his cousins he briefly considered running away rather than stay with other children he found to be both uncouth and bawdy, but over the course of the next two months something in him changed and he soon took great pleasure in telling jokes about bodily functions and in out-burping his new playmates.

Lying in bed Cane tried to piece together what had happened the night before and why (a) he was dressed in an ape suit and (b) he was in bed with the wife of his landlord—a minor hitman for the Russian Mob.

"Well, I'm not sure if the cat is still possessed," said Sandy, "but at least the kids enjoyed the exorcism."

That morning the high peaks were dusted in snow and from below the people looked up and knew that soon they would be spending their time indoors huddled against the cold.

After reading "The Art of War," Thurber was convinced he should be conducting his interpersonal relations following Sun Tzu's teachings, only to find himself divorced, broke and now facing an angry mob.

The dog is aware of the situation between the two humans, but remains unsure whether stepping in is appropriate, so instead he performs every trick he knows until they stop yelling and begin to laugh at his antics.

The line between darkness and light is as thin as a hair, so for Bodevich, who had a penchant for whiskey and gambling, it was only a matter of time before he would end up stumbling through the blackest city streets hand-in-hand with the devil.

"That boy's no better than a mangy dog," said Slim, "except that instead of stealing chickens, he steals his friends' girls."

Based on all available evidence Michum went through with the procedure only to find out the next day, as he lay in bed in screaming pain, that a man named Dr. Michimata had discovered a painless cure for all that ailed him.

Her heartbeat was like the fluttering of butterfly wings as we lay side by side in the dark for the first time.

After the evening in which he got lost in a heavy fog he had the distinct feeling that he was dead and it took his family nearly a week to convince him otherwise.

It was a Louisiana fall morning, with a wet chill that got in your bones and the gun felt cold and heavy in his hands on this, his first attempt at hunting.

They called him the Frenchman, not because he hailed from that country, but due to his hatred of anything British, especially the cooking.

She stirred the pot and with every turn of the long wooden spoon aromas drifted up evoking a multitude of times, places and half-forgotten friends' faces that whirled through her mind.

Derided by critics and the public alike, Neufeld didn't care and thrived in the negative atmosphere self-publishing more and more in the misguided belief that he was writing for the ages.

The gate banged open as the wind raged up the walkway carrying the scent of decay and the sickly-sweet smell of dying roses with it.

Charlene loved to watch medical dramas, but as a hypochondriac would immediately be convinced she was suffering from whatever rare disease was the focus of the episode.

The car glided past him, slowed and stopped, its engine idling with menace as he came up next to it.

I knew I was always going to be a second-rate lawyer, that's when I switched to crime and as it turned out, I was much, much better in that field.

Looking out of the kitchen window Elizabeth saw a hot air balloon descend onto her lawn and watched in horror as a man wearing a black top hat and a bathrobe jumped out and kidnapped her dog.

"Sal you ain't smart, you ain't handsome and you got no conscience so the only way you're going to make it in this life is to stick to killing," Roberta told her son one morning over coffee and toast.

Sometimes I'm back there in that lodge with them and ol' Stan is playing on the sax so soft and of course she's there, with her beehive and that voice...that voice so smooth and sweet it soothes my aching head.

His fingers were losing their grip on the slimy rock as the swift water relentlessly beat against him.

The old woman invited him in and though he was told not to go into strangers' homes, he entered, even eating a few cookies offered—not caring that they might be poisoned—because she seemed so sad and alone.

The house I lived in my entire life seemed to both expand and contract—in my youth, so large; in my adulthood, so small; and with the passing of my family, a vast expanse—like I was Alice in Wonderland.