The dry warm spring day began to cool and I finally emerged from the reverie of fishing. All day I had fly fished on this desert river. The spring runoff from the surrounding mountains swelled the stream and kept me from feeling the heat of midday, but as the sun set the cold water began to chill me. I realized that I must pack my gear and try to find the road out of this wild place. Finding such an ideal spot, that was completely deserted, had been my goal and by using maps and conjecture I had successfully found the place I desired.
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The day that I went to the local food store, my intentions were to pick up a few items that are essential for the survival of a single guy living alone, nothing more. I hate grocery shopping. I'm twenty-three and my latest girl friend had moved out about three months ago, so there were no home cooked meals waiting for me when I got home from work.
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I had just returned from college and was so broke it hurt. I hadn't a penny left from my allowance, but that was so tiny. I was always the poorest girl in my class - my parents did as much as they could, but simply didn't have enough to keep themselves, let alone subsidise me.
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One summer afternoon, April Price waited stoically in line at the check stand in the small, upscale supermarket where she bought most of her groceries. The old woman in front of her had a whole cartful, so April passed the time by looking at the covers of the array of fan magazines on display. When all the old woman's purchases had been rung up and bagged and paid for, the checker asked her the question he asked all customers.
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It was Thursday afternoon when I received a phone call from my buddy Rob. He asked me to meet him for a quick drink after work, something about some exciting news that he might have. I called Jenny my wife, told her I'd be running late, just in case she had anything special planned, and left the office at quitting time.
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Saturday afternoon on a brisk November day in Calgary. I was into my second month of a six month stay, having come up from Houston for a consulting job in the oil fields. So far, Calgary had been nonstop hard work, and this day was the first break I'd taken. Keith, a foreman with the company I was contracted to, had invited me to watch a hockey game with his girlfriend Danielle and his crew of tough, muscled roustabouts and roughnecks.
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My friend Leon gave me a call one afternoon recently asking if I'd like to get in a weekend of fishing at his camp on the lake and as I'd had a few unusually stressful weeks at work it sounded like a great idea to me. I've known Leon for many years and consider him one of my best friends. To my knowledge he's straight and had never even remotely thought of having a romantic or sexual relationship with him.
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They strolled down the jetty, enjoying the feel of the salty wind and the beauty of the setting sun. The surf was crashing against the rocks and spraying them with mist so that both their shirts were sticking close to their bodies by the time they reached the end of the walkway.
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I'd always known I might be arrested some day, so it wasn't entirely unexpected. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a criminal. I was doing something patriotic. But the people in charge of things disagreed.
That can be a problem.
In those days I was running the newspaper from a little dressmaking shop in Tull.
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"Hi darling! This is Marisa...Marisa; this is my daughter, Zoey."
"Hi Marisa. At last, I have the chance to finally meet you. I heard a lot about you!"
Zoey cordially shook hand with her father's new girlfriend. Marisa Heart, 39, a doctor and a colleague of her father at St. Gabriel Hospital. They had been dating for the past 4 months. The woman facing her was pretty and petite, Zoey guessed she was about 5 feet 4 inches in height and she had the most appealing laughter. Her father incessantly made jokes at the table and she realized that he was happy to be with this woman.
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