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She was working in the garden when she saw him, her fingers sinking into moist, yielding soil as she dug out the hard, knobbly potatoes that would get her through the winter. He stood by the forest line, the mottled brown and green of his skin almost blending into the trees. Her first thought was for the shotgun, that she'd foolishly left on the ( Read more... )

"The cost is prohibitive," the treasurer explained to the irate oldsters gathered around his office, waving signs saying, "Don't take our lucky pennies!" and brandishing the coins in question. "Perhaps you could try lucky nickels, or lucky quarters ( Read more... )

I've been to the edge, where I stood and looked down. I've lost a lost of friends there, and I always remembered them in my prayers and thanked the goddess that I hadn't joined them. But now, with the way things are, and the village government.... It's all so peaceful and calm, and everybody patronizes me when I talk about how they should be more ( Read more... )