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Advent Calendar '07: Day 10
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I’d helped him out of his gear. I’d carried his bag to the car. I’d driven his beat-up old junker Camry with a healthy fear for my life and managed to not scream at him to get his brakes checked more than once a decade. I’d foregone a pleasant quiet meal and my own bed to instead carry his bag up to his apartment and fix him soup ( Read more... ) -
Advent Calendar '07: Day 9
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“Just try and decorate your tree in a way that’s meaningful to you,” the PR guy had said with a shrug, dropping boxes onto the table that were filled to the brim in odds and ends. “Your tastes, your likes, whatever. Something that matters.”
He’d paused for a moment, looking between the grinning Rusty and Rick, and added ( Read more... ) -
Advent Calendar '07: Day 8
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Through lengthy experience, I’ve learned how to roll with the punches. To let the trials and tribulations run off my back like so much water, brushing them off with a laugh as easily as someone brushes a speck of dirt from their coat. It’s easier that way, better that way, smoothing everything over with a wave of the hand or a ( Read more... ) -
Advent Calendar '07: Day 7
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Danny hunched down as he crept slowly forward, pressing himself against the wall and leaning over to make himself smaller and less noticeable. Every step he made was too loud for his hypersensitive ears but he couldn’t move any quieter, and he struggled to hear over the blood pounding in his ears; his breath crisping conspicuously ( Read more... ) -
Advent Calendar '07: Day 6
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He was sitting on the edge of the far bed when I got back to the hotel room, his back to me, his shoulders wearily slumped. He didn’t move when I quietly closed the door behind me, letting my bag slide off my shoulder onto the near bed to join his own. He just stayed there: his neck bent, his hands clasped between his legs.
I ( Read more... ) -
Advent Calendar '07: Day 5
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I learned at an early age how to pick my battles.
Some things were worth fighting for: those were battles you never stepped down from; no matter how big the other guy was or how many friends he had with him. It was worth the bruises and cuts and occasional cracked bone to defend what points of honor your young psyche ( Read more... ) -
Advent Calendar '07: Day 4
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I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
As my kids opened presents and my wife snapped pictures, I felt that little tug at my chest that I just couldn’t ignore. During Christmas breakfast, a grand feast of pancakes and waffles and syrup and sausage, I couldn’t help but brood. As the extended family milled around the house, ( Read more... ) -
Advent Calendar '07: Day 3
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You know, you would be so much cuter if you learned how to smile.
I mean, really, Gilbert. Just a little upturn of your lips. Maybe even something snarky and smirky. It’d go so much better on your face than that scowl you’re always sporting. As someone who watches you every chance I get, take my word for it: you’d look ( Read more... ) -
Advent Calendar '07: Day 2
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There was a pile of puppies on Manny’s living room floor.
Not the cute ones, no-of course not. Instead of soft fur and wet noses and wagging tails, these puppies instead had gangly-long limbs, ratty worn clothing, hair that stuck out in odd places and bodies that still weren’t quite sure of themselves. These were the ( Read more... ) -
Advent Calendar '07: Day 1
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“Stay still.”
“But-”
“Still.”
Sergei let out a resigned sigh as he obediently stopped squirming, letting his hands drop to his sides so as to let Nikolai finish buttoning up the front of his crisp blue dress shirt. They were standing in front of the full-length mirror by the wardrobe in their bedroom and ( Read more... )