I heard the beat of the drums and the deep blatting of the tuba and knew Carnival time had once again arrived.

There was hardly time for anything else with all the distractions we'd created for ourselves.

Brent used his Christianity as a shield for his sexist, racist, and homophobic feelings.

They had to look past the protesters and the hateful messages scrawled on placards in order to get a glimpse of their new home.

It had become hard to tell the criminals from the cops.

 By the neon glow of the beer sign she saw him smile at someone across the room the way she wished he would smile at her.

He saw an enemy behind every tree and a turncoat at every turn.

Consumerism had even managed to infect the family dogs who would only play with new toys, eschewing anything that had a bite mark or scuff.

The days of wine and roses gave way to those of vinegar and weeds.

The old dog sat in the sun and with a satisfied yawn and stretch illustrated perfectly how we all felt about that spring day.

Sometimes there seemed to be nothing left to say.

Lori loved best of all the iridescent light of dawn before the world would wake.

His lies were like a shoddily constructed fort perched upon a rotten tree limb that swayed dangerously with even the softest puff of wind.

The lull in the conversation lasted for the rest of their lives.

Alice hoped that love would eventually overpower the world's darker emotions, but she had her doubts.

The wind shook the limb and howled menacingly but the little mourning dove remained steadfast.

It was worse at night when Kate's mind was free from distractions and could focus on all the problems of the world without solving a single one.

Each day he walked through the doors and stood behind the podium and choked out the lies with an anguished smile that he read from a paper that had been typed up for him.

As a child he was somehow closer to the rhythms of life and death, a connection he lost as an adult to his detriment.

The senator had a hard time discerning how history would view him since he couldn't see over the mountain of corporate cash that blocked the way.

The friendly shadows within beckoned me to the tavern with its possibility of a bit of solace on a night so terrible as this.

She often felt like the silvery tinsel that clung to the Christmas tree after it had been dragged across the yard and unceremoniously dumped near the street.

They were stuck between the paranoid delusions of one leader and the racist policies of another.

Each night was a lottery in which death spun the wheel as the bombs rained down on the city.

The statue came tumbling down in a cloud of dust amid the ballyhoos of the crowd.

The wind-swept mountains were his home now but soon the capital would fall and he would return home in glory.

He washed the man's feet as a symbol of repentance for all the pain he had caused.

They were married amid the sound of gunfire and earth-shaking shelling.