So, you have decided to sign-up for Twitter…you don’t know why, but you do know that it is all that…or, at least that is what your younger sister told you. You have gone to the main page, signed up, waited…nothing. That’s right, nothing. You check the screen for days wondering when the “news” will be flooding in. Once, after signing in, you see a large whale on the screen and then a funky bird. After refreshing your browser a few times, you see a blank spot under your update box. You can’t take it any more. So, you decide to have a conversation with yourself using Twitter.

Coffee is a great stimulator. It provides that get up and go when the get up has just about gone, or perhaps hasn’t even shown up for the day. Tammy drinks three cups of this magical brew each morning before she even gets into work…one before her shower, one after the gym, and one on her way to the office. The rest of the day’s menu is very similar. She needs the caffeine, and nothing else seems to work. It has to be coffee or nothing. Somehow, she forgets to buy her usual coffee during her recent trip to the grocery store and runs out late that night to pick up a blend for the morning.

Smithy was also a bit on the heavy side, but he was not too large. He was definitely an over-eater who had hoped at various moments to control his appetite. This was to no avail. Every attempt Smithy made to stop eating caused the desire to grow even more. He never left a meal without eating dessert. After one meal at a new restaurant, his usually painful and immediate heartburn did not return. As he finished his appetizer, he reached for his medication in his top pocket. As he was about to take it, he realized that he did not feel any pain. He put the pill back in his pocket and moved to his main dish. As he continued to eat, he searched for the familiar pain. Nothing…Smithy began to wonder what had happened.

Barley didn’t want to track down the missing emerald. Barley didn’t want to blend into another culture he barely understood. Barley didn’t want to venture into the swamp. Barley just wanted to be Barley…then again, who else would?

The book has sat on the shelf since you were three. OK, maybe four…However, the book has always been there. You remember when you were ten, opening the cover once…once…And, your father stood over you and asked where the book belonged. You quickly put it back. You managed to see a few words inside the cover. Those words have stuck with you to this day. Now, as you sort through your father’s belongings shortly after his recent passing, you remember them…

What if our life did depend on the roll of a dice? A gambling woman would carry around her own dice. Every move, every call, she makes is determined by her roll. Each option is assigned a number that corresponds to the dots on the dice. One means she takes the bus to work; Five indicates she takes her bike. This is not always the best method, but she rolls them every day…she needs to roll them everyday.

Fall brings many changes. Leaves fall and colors migrate from green to more placid hues. Fall also brings alterations in attitude…at least that is the case for one man…Every year, as the trees shed their blankets of green, this man sheds his brighter personality for a more aggressive one. Most of the time, he disappears into a residence buried in the depths of the bare forests…most of the time.

It is about a decade after the turn of the century…the 19th century that is. Gas streetlights have just started to replace the lanterns that hung along the safe paths. The city has used some variation of olive oil, beeswax, fish oil, whale oil, sesame oil, or nut oil to fuel the brightness overhead. They have also used street lighters to initiate the spark. Over the last month, the street lighters began lighting the lanterns later and later until one day no light shone on the streets.