The ice split with each step, sending long, thin lines that mirrored the lifeless tree limbs on shore, spreading ahead of his unsure footfalls.

Lisa, known by the stage name Salome,stumbled and nearly fell in the midst of her "Dance of the Seven Veils," when she saw Sammy walk into the Peek-A-Boo Room with a new girl on his arm.

The Mariachi band, tired of playing traditional songs for unappreciative tourists eating chalupas, broke into a Delta Blues tune so heart-wrenching tears soon washed over the dinnerware and onto the floor.

Kurt had no compunction about drinking his friend's whiskey since there was a stark difference in their paychecks.

"Sure, I got a bad ticker, but if you don't shut your trap, I'll take you out before I croak," growled the old sailor at the bartender needling him.

After five years John Paul could no longer imagine a life outside his prison walls.

Mazzie was told not to rock the boat, but contention was her only vice, so it was less than a week before she began to once again ask impertinent and pointed questions of her superiors.