| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: draw, and she wondered what she would do if she saw crazy Lou's
white face glaring into the window. The rattling of the door
became unbearable, she thought the latch must be loose and took the
lamp to look at it. Then for the first time she saw the ugly brown
snake skins whose death rattle sounded every time the wind jarred
the door.
"Canute, Canute!" she screamed in terror.
Outside the door she heard a heavy sound as of a big dog
getting up and shaking himself. The door opened and Canute stood
before her, white as a snow drift.
"What is it?" he asked kindly.
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: the dull thunder of the volley and, rising again toward the
surface, met shining bits of metal, singularly flattened,
oscillating slowly downward. Some of them touched him on the
face and hands, then fell away, continuing their descent.
One lodged between his collar and neck; it was uncomfortably
warm and he snatched it out.
As he rose to the surface, gasping for breath, he saw that he
had been a long time under water; he was perceptibly farther
downstream -- nearer to safety. The soldiers had almost
finished reloading; the metal ramrods flashed all at once in
the sunshine as they were drawn from the barrels,
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: me; "I will wait for you at the window."
I sent on Joseph to tell my father that I was on my way. Two
hours later I was at the Rue de Provence.
Chapter 20
My father was seated in my room in his dressing-gown; he was
writing, and I saw at once, by the way in which he raised his
eyes to me when I came in, that there was going to be a serious
discussion. I went up to him, all the same, as if I had seen
nothing in his face, embraced him, and said:
"When did you come, father?"
"Last night."
Camille |
