Jasper was a flimflam man whose most popular health tonic, which he personally consumed in large quantities, was nothing more than booze and morphine with beet juice for color.

 The drive-in, like Dave who had once worked there, was in disrepair, and was a constant reminder of how much time had passed since they were both pristine. 

With bated breath they waited every week only to have their million dollar dreams dashed when their numbers didn't come up.

She danced on the table while he stumbled around the restaurant singing Sinatra tunes.

The wine was bad, the service worse and the conversational skills of his date deplorable.

Trent stopped listening to classic rock stations when the music of his generation made the cut.

The scream woke her and for several confused seconds she wondered from whom it was coming until she closed her mouth.

The dappled late-summer light played across the long lonely field.

Jimmy, who had a passing resemblance to a young Eric Clapton and didn't know how to say "no," often found himself in the arms of women his mother's age who softly cooed the lyrics to 60s songs in his ear.

There was a false lightness in the air those last few days of the season as they slowly shuttered the summer cottage and attempted to squeeze out a little more fun from the quickly cooling nights.

The Congress, too busy biting its own neck, didn't see the coming coup.

Boots on cobblestone was their only warning.

It was a hung jury on whether James should hang.

Shattered by his failed marriage and desultory job prospects he found himself cleaning his guns more and more often.

The robbery was a mess thanks in part to Gary, their getaway driver, deciding to pick up his dry cleaning while the rest of the crew was inside the bank.

Isabel wakes with the knowledge that she's living someone else's life.

Tales of wonder and delight weren't Walter's cup of tea for he was a child who cared only for facts.

The dam made a noise like a dying whale just before it went.

"Tonight's the night we make history," the general began, then faltered, realizing he had just quoted a Styx song in an attempt to rally his troops.

Troy uploaded his video of himself lip-synching to a Joan Baez tune to YouTube thinking he would be the next Internet sensation, but after two weeks only his mother and younger sister had watched it and his dreams slowly began to die.

You could feel the winter on the smoky wind.

No matter how much the drunken frat boys pushed they could not get the cow to tip over.

What they at first believed to be nothing more than a tempest in a teapot quickly turned into a category five hurricane for the senator.

The school children screamed when the Belted Kingfisher came out of the water with a goldfish from the park's koi pond and proceeded to swallow it whole.

Henry was replaced by a machine at work and at home.

  "You filled the emptiness in your life with kids, I filled mine with booze," said Tracy with a laugh as she sat at her sister's kitchen table, swirling the wine in her glass.

He found Theresa to be sickeningly sweet and so went about trying to uncover whatever darkness hid inside her.

It took a government ban on America's favorite sitcom to rouse the people to revolt.

Blood seeped from between her tightly clenched fists as Allie argued with her mother.

Feeling withered and worn, I hit the road for what I hoped was my last drug run.