Plattsburgh, New York, in the summer of 1970...
It had been a rough couple of months for Dustin Wood, and his life seemed to fall apart in every way imaginable. First, his mother passed away in the spring, and with her gone, Dustin's father seemed to change into someone unrecognizable, drinking heavily and taking all of his frustration out on his only son.
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It was a wild midsummer's night. The rain was pelting down in sheets and the wind was howling through the trees like the banshee's lonely wail. I was sitting in my favorite chair with a half full bottle of single malt Scotch in my left hand and a revolver in my right hand. There was only one bullet in the revolver and I was getting up my Dutch courage to play the first round of Russian roulette.
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I happened into an unbelievable experience about a year after my wife passed away suddenly at the age of fifty-three. Since we were empty nesters, after it happened, I had pretty much spent many hours a week at my office where I was away from our memories and the loneliness of our now empty house.
As was my custom, I left home around 5:00 a.m. and drove the hour to work stopping about half way to get coffee and a New York Times.
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"My mom's convinced I won't graduate without getting pregnant," Kaylea told me, tucking in her shirt before tying her apron around her waist.
"There are ways to make sure that doesn't happen," I joked. She rolled her eyes at me. "I'm serious, Kaylea."
"I know," she said. "I'm careful. I won't get pregnant, Tim, I promise."
As her boss instead of a teacher or parent, I knew I could say things to her other adults couldn't. "Famous last words of eighteen year olds everywhere," I teased right before adding the words I never should have said.
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Dan was alone. After many years of a very happy marriage he lost his beloved wife Mary to cancer. He had taken early retirement in order to look after in the last few months and now he missed her dreadfully.
Eighteen months had passed since the funeral and Dan had completed just about every bit of decorating and repair outstanding around the house, including the replacement of the shed and the building of a new summerhouse.
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Mandy had grown up in a small Midwestern city and was a shy girl. She had some close friends but had put aside the idea of dating in her early teens. Something about the complications of dating didn't appeal to her. It seemed like a lot of work for a few moments of pleasure. Besides, she told herself, too many of the guys she knew were pure unadulterated jerks. Those that weren't, she reasoned, would never go out with her.
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My first semester in college I was worried about what kind of roommate I might have like most people on their first time away from home. I spent 3 nights by myself in the two man room before my roommate, Shane, finally showed up. It came out later after we got to know each other that he was worried as well and was spending the nights at a frat brother's room before he got enough nerve to show up. We had become good friends by then and had a good laugh about it.
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She studied the top of his head and selected the exact point of entry. It was to be the motor cortex just behind the frontal lobe. It would affect immediate paralysis of basic movements and the brain stem would cease to stimulate the lung muscles. His life would expire within ninety seconds.
He was grunting as he continued his savage thrusts into her and growled, "Do you like being fucked hard you whore."
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Chapter 1
I was sitting in the rec room watching TV one afternoon when my eighteen old daughter Samantha came home from school. She came over and kissed me, and then she sat on my lap.
Now when I say that she sat on my lap, what I mean is that she sat facing me, straddling me with her legs, and her arms on my shoulders. I knew immediately what that meant. Samantha wanted something, something special. And most likely, something expensive.
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I had just finished my last appointment for the day. My wrists were killing me. I loved being my own boss as a massage therapist, but 7 sessions in almost as many hours wreaked havoc on my muscles. I'd just opened my small office a few days earlier and already people were clamoring.
They were mostly former clients I'd worked on during my training. Before locking up and heading home, I decided to tidy up the changing room instead of waiting for tomorrow.
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