| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain: as they had brought their instruments they might as well tune up,
for the boys and girls would soon be arriving now, and hungry for
a good, old-fashioned break-down. A fiddle, a banjo, and a clarinet--
these were the instruments. The trio took their places side by side,
and began to play some rattling dance-music, and beat time with
their big boots.
It was getting very close to nine. Henry was standing in the door
with his eyes directed up the road, his body swaying to the torture
of his mental distress. He had been made to drink his wife's
health and safety several times, and now Tom shouted:
"All hands stand by! One more drink, and she's here!"
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: from the giant who carried me. Instantly he went backward to the
deck, and as he did so he threw his arms outwards to save himself,
freeing me. I fell heavily upon him, but was upon my feet in
the instant. As I arose, I cast a single glance at my opponent.
Never again would he menace me or another, for Nob's great jaws
had closed upon his throat. Then I sprang toward the edge of the
deck closest to the girl upon the sinking tug.
"Jump!" I cried. "Jump!" And I held out my arms to her.
Instantly as though with implicit confidence in my ability to
save her, she leaped over the side of the tug onto the sloping,
slippery side of the U-boat. I reached far over to seize
The Land that Time Forgot |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: The town clock struck two.
The parlour of the convent would not open until morning, and surely a
delay would annoy Madame, so, in spite of her desire to see the other
child, she went home. The maids of the inn were just arising when she
reached Pont-l'Eveque.
So the poor boy would be on the ocean for months! His previous trips
had not alarmed her. One can come back from England and Brittany; but
America, the colonies, the islands, were all lost in an uncertain
region at the very end of the world.
From that time on, Felicite thought solely of her nephew. On warm days
she feared he would suffer from thirst, and when it stormed, she was
A Simple Soul |
