Here's the Story - Mark Maynard

Randy meets Allison. He is young and headstrong. She is beautiful and fun-loving. They begin dating and fall in love. Randy buys a ring and surprises Allison by proposing to her as they ride horses together on the beach. They push the wedding forward because Allison’s mom is terminally ill. Randy shares the first dance with Allison’s mom, slowly rolling her wheelchair around the dance floor to the music. They move into their first small home together – each begin new jobs and Allison becomes pregnant. Seven months into the pregnancy, Allison develops complications and must be hospitalized. Fifty miles away, Allison’s mom is put into hospice with weeks to live. On his way into the hospital to visit his wife, Randy runs into a girl he went to high school with that he has always been attracted to. Here’s the story.

Two friends, Steven and Dirk, are walking to school together. They live across the street from one another and are in the same fourth grade class. Steven’s parents are divorcing but haven’t told him yet. Dirk’s mother has told him about Steven’s parents but he is not allowed to mention it to his friend. It is a cold autumn morning and Steven has a bad cold but his mother did not want him to be home that day as she and her soon to be ex-husband had each taken the day off of work to finalize some paperwork and meet with attorneys. Steven’s throat is sore and he has a slight fever. Dirk’s been getting bullied by a fifth grader nearly every day for the past two weeks. Steven, his constant companion, has been watching this happen but saying nothing. A block from school, the dirt pathway dips out of sight into a small ravine before rising to the other side and just across a busy street from school. As the friends reach the bottom of the ravine, something rattles in the brush a few feet from the path. They hear the whimper of an animal in pain. Here’s the story.