| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: "Miserable creatures!" cried the enraged proconsul, who had overheard
the Syrian's words.
In the midst of the uproar Antipas remembered the medallion of the
emperor that Herodias had given to him; he drew it forth and looked at
it a moment, trembling, then held it up with its face turned towards
the throng.
At the same moment, the panels of the gold-railed balcony were folded
back, and, accompanied by slaves bearing wax tapers, Herodias
appeared, her coiffure crowned with an Assyrian mitre, which was held
in place by a band passing under the chin. Her dark hair fell in
ringlets over a scarlet peplum with slashed sleeves. On either side of
 Herodias |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: "You're mixed up in this somehow," he said sharply. "You might as
well come over with the story. We'll get him. He can't get out
of this town."
With the words, and the knowledge that in some incredible fashion
Dick had made his escape, Bassett's mind reacted instantly.
"What's eating you, Wilkins?" he demanded. "Who got away? I
couldn't get that tongue-tied bell-hop to tell me. Thought it
was a fire."
"Don't stall, Bassett. You've had Jud Clark hidden upstairs in
three-twenty all day."
Bassett got up and towered angrily over the Sheriff. The crowd had
 The Breaking Point |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Puritan magnate bade all the town to be his guests. A ceremony of
consecration, festive as well as religious, was now to be performed.
A prayer and discourse from the Rev. Mr. Higginson, and the outpouring
of a psalm from the general throat of the community, was to be made
acceptable to the grosser sense by ale, cider, wine, and brandy,
in copious effusion, and, as some authorities aver, by an ox, roasted
whole, or at least, by the weight and substance of an ox, in more
manageable joints and sirloins. The carcass of a deer, shot within
twenty miles, had supplied material for the vast circumference of a
pasty. A codfish of sixty pounds, caught in the bay, had been dissolved
into the rich liquid of a chowder. The chimney of the new house,
 House of Seven Gables |