We classified, labeled, studied, debated, poked and prodded, but nature defied us at every turn.

The feeble road, little more than a dirt path, led from one broken-down village to another in an endless loop of misery.

He rode a wave of our darkest fears and hidden hatreds straight to the top.

The wild waves leapt like ravenous lions at the shore. 

He was the only guy we knew who still looked like a bum while wearing a $1,000 suit.

They gnashed their teeth and spat invectives but Natalie just kept on dancing.

When the circus shut down Talula tried her hand on the vaudeville stage.

The more ways we found to communicate the more isolated we became.

The day after the day after it happened things seemed to be looking up but the day after that was worse.

They danced their way into eternity.

His career hobbled along for a few more years like a drunken hobo too old to continue hopping freights.

Through a brief crack in the clouds a shaft of dawn light bathed the snow-freckled, ice-covered creek in a warm glow.

It didn't take long for the conspiracy theorists to intertwine the latest political maneuvering into their cloak-and-dagger narrative.

Even when Hank was down at the heels, he still kept his shoes polished to a high sheen.

The birds waited by the window as the wind whipped their plumage without mercy.

Love didn't exactly tear them apart, but it did make them patched and moth-eaten.

Through it all she continued to look towards a bright, better future.

No one saw what was hidden behind that gregarious smile.

I became everything I had hated and imagined that my former self would have gunned me down given half a chance.

The panderers always prevailed in politics.

Looking outside at the swirling snow he couldn't help but wish he was back home celebrating with his people.

We stared up at the night sky and I told her one day we would meet again somewhere out there.

What he thought was, in fact wasn't, and not just a little, but a world away from the truth.

With so much loss in her life Sandy realized soon there would be nothing left to surrender.

The mayor's speech was cut short by the reports of gunfire mere blocks away.

The technology created to connect us only lengthened the distance.

Hank always told himself the best was yet to come and then he died.

For her every day was an adventure and each person a friend. RIP Boo Boo.

The charges didn't stick but the stink of scandal still clung to the senator.