Segment 8.10

Before the memories resurfaced, Oscar wondered why his wife had redecorated. As always, a slow burn of anger churned at him with the knowledge that she had messed up again. She was hopeless.
Then he sat up and realized he was stashed behind a curtain in a hospital bed, still fully dressed but without his shoes. [...]

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Segment 8.9

Sizzling bacon, the sound and the smell of it, overpowered the second-floor bathroom where three girls elbowed each other in their attempts to ready themselves for school.
“Ugh! That makes me sick,” declared the oldest, rubbing a generous wad of apricot scrub about her face. “I told Dad to stop making dead pigs for breakfast.”
The middle [...]

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Segment 8.8

Cinnamon raisin, onion garlic, sesame, plain. Nothing smelled like a proper breakfast. Sam dug further in the bag and came up with a half-eaten honey whole-wheat. He dropped it back and wiped his chest.
“All the good ones taken?” he protested.
“Mmm,” Dinah replied, her attention on the computer. “What did you expect?”
“It’s not like I came [...]

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Segment 8.7

Morning e-mail brought the usual selection of junk mail and family photos. Petra saved Omar’s note for last, bracing herself for rambling accounts of the dust devils and smells of burning everything that comprised a typical dispatch from the desert. These personal notes differed little from the curse-laden blog entries, except that they spared her [...]

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Segment 8.6

Fifteen minutes. No time for catching up on the several years since they’d spoken. No time for tracking down a more recent phone number if this one didn’t work. The guard kept tapping his watch and Sydney waved back at him. He spoke fast when he got his old roomie on the phone.
“I can’t talk [...]

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Segment 8.5

She said her goodnights and repeated herself. On the second hearing, Peter understood her at last.
“You sure you don’t want me to walk you in?”
“No I don’t. Thank you for dinner, Peter. I love that someone thought to take me out. I’ve grown so tired of the same four walls.”
“Any time, of course.”
Polly watched him [...]

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Segment 8.4

Ronald Pinkham. Guillaume shook his head, even as his mind dredged up a hearty curse. No, he didn’t know Ronald Pinkham and couldn’t imagine how his business card came to be in the man’s pocket. Maybe Monique had met him at the open house, milling around in the big crowd of prospective residents. She had [...]

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Segment 8.3

Plastic wrap and foil covered all the serving dishes. Two settings of the fine china graced the table, flanked by delicate linen napkins. Silver candlesticks and matching salt and pepper service waited in the middle of the table. Sugar eyed the clock and then her watch, both perfectly in sync, both informing her that Oscar [...]

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Segment 8.2

The circle at the center of the Court felt different this time but then she drove her own car this time instead of the cruiser. Without all the power of the cruiser and the comforting annoyance of her partner and his ever-present cache of snack foods, Dinah felt exposed and vulnerable. Her eye flew to [...]

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Segment 8.1

Papers, so many papers. PePé shuddered at the sight of the fat clipboard they handed Angel.
“Go sit down there, Mr. Morales,” the nurse said. She pointed with her nose to a crowded bank of plastic seats.
“You sit, Papa,” Angel said as they approached the one open chair.
“No, por favor,” PePé replied. “You need a place [...]

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