The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Options by O. Henry: phonography.
Ileen was the daughter of the house, and the first Lady Cashier to
invade the territory south of an east-and-west line drawn through
Galveston and Del Rio. She sat on a high stool in a rough pine grand-
stand--or was it a temple?--under the shelter at the door of the
kitchen. There was a barbed-wire protection in front of her, with a
little arch under which you passed your money. Heaven knows why the
barbed wire; for every man who dined Parisianly there would have died
in her service. Her duties were light; each meal was a dollar; you
put it under the arch, and she took it.
I set out with the intent to describe Ileen Hinkle to you. Instead, I
 Options |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: to all and concealed by all. Besides the general cause of the
mutual hatred of husbands and wives resulting from complicity in
the pollution of a human being, and also from other causes, the
inexhaustible source of marital wounds is jealousy. But by tacit
consent it is determined to conceal them from all, and we conceal
them. Knowing them, each one supposes in himself that it is an
unfortunate peculiarity, and not a common destiny. So it was
with me, and it had to be so. There cannot fail to be jealousy
between husbands and wives who live immorally. If they cannot
sacrifice their pleasures for the welfare of their child, they
conclude therefrom, and truly, that they will not sacrifice their
 The Kreutzer Sonata |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: name of Von der Tann must assure you."
She looked to see the expression of relief and pleasure
that her father's name should have brought to the face of
Leopold of Lutha, but when he gave no indication that he
had ever before heard the name she sighed and looked
puzzled.
"Perhaps," she thought, "he doubts me. Or can it be pos-
sible that, after all, his poor mind is gone?"
"I wish," said Barney in a tone of entreaty, "that you
would forgive and forget my foolish words, and then let me
accompany you to the end of your journey."
 The Mad King |