The curtain dropped for the final time on the career of the old hoofer after he stumbled and fell from the stage and onto the lap of the theater critic.

The internet was a black hole.

Burt finally understood that he would always crave recognition, accolades, and fame, and blamed a  paucity of childhood friendships for this condition.

Leo exited the deserted library that afternoon to the roar of the crowd coming from the nearby stadium and knew that the institution was more interested in athletics than academics.

He was an old-fashioned gentleman through and through and practiced the fine art of dueling although its heyday had passed long ago.

The poet and the painter hated one another for both were in love with the dancer.

The Conservative conference devolved into a scene out of Mad Max as the racists battled the warmongers who turned on the xenophobes.

They poured through the broken fence toward freedom.

The neighborhood was ruined by the rich.

The lie was like a massive stack of plates held aloft by a drunken waiter that was ready to tumble at any moment.

The right was wrong.

It was just a nudge but it sent her philandering husband tumbling down the stairs and into divorce court.

The freedom to think and feel had been curtailed making action the only reasonable response.

What she couldn't understand was how the Earth continued to work as it always had while inside her the world had ground to a halt.

Somehow their home had become a billet for wayward pets and the couple hand servants to the ever-growing brood.

My soul was small and my appetite unquenchable.

The days became shorter and her depression deeper.

His dreams of playing pro where shattered along with his throwing shoulder.

Sam hated the high hatters and snobs and hoped one day when he was on top he'd be able to give them a taste of their own medicine.

By the end of that year most of us had taken to the road, a moving city seeking refuge from violence and insecurity and hunger.

Thoughts of mortality kept Mildred up at night and hastened her demise. 

The politician spent his mornings practicing his circular arguments.

Ben began despising the expression "dollars to donuts" after losing a bundle in the bakery business.

Her fall from grace began that fall.

I woke that Sunday morning, soul crushed, shaky, and still a little drunk, but happy to watch the sun rise.

Busted flat again, Tara's thoughts turned towards less legitimate ways of earning money.

The overpriced toys no longer entertained us.

He listened to Brenda describe every pair of shoes she owned while he dreamed about her breasts.

Sin was something Spike thought a lot about as he made his rounds collecting protection money from the neighborhood businesses.

The old men grumbled about the next generation as their fathers had done about them.