Other praised the resilience of his optimism. It became a defining feature but destined for failure. When each day, a morning #drizzle of misfortune ended in an evening #hurricane, eventually he punched walls and said words which would make a dirty politician blush. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

An old man once told me to beware the coming storm. "Take heed," he said. "For there is no wrath like #nature #unmoored." I'm not sure what he meant, but I've been terrified ever since. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Hold fast, for just around the #bend there is light. Wait, beyond that corner is a new day. Watch, as this doom is sure to dissipate, and when it happens, #exhale at last. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

The #puppy #looms over the bone of some poor, #extinct creature. If I take a step, the dog will pounce in some instinctual and inevitable game. One thing is for certain, the pup really wants me to take that step. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

We sit in the #raft, drifting at sea, #searing under a relentless sun. We lost our oars overboard fighting over the last beer at the mouth of the river, pitching us to our doom. Two idiots roasting like tater tots forgotten in an air fryer. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

"What's your sign?" he asked, like it mattered. "Is that the best you can do?" she replied. "They mean something. The signs." "Oh yeah?" "Trust me. From the heart." "If the #zodiac is as #heartfelt as you get," she said, "next, please." #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

He came across as quite #wonky. He wore #goggles instead of glasses, his clothes disheveled beyond the hope of an iron, and hair like he'd stuck a finger in a socket. Like a young Doc Brown without the time-travel genius, though he did once try to steal plutonium. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

One summer day, our mom made us root beer #floats. We ate them while sitting on the front #stoop, racing against the sun as it melted thick scoops of vanilla into the sweet, tingly soda. For that moment, at least, we felt like kings of the #neighborhood. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

Two #finches perch upon the wreath on my front door. They hurry and hassle, flit and fidget, chirp and chatter. Now a #slapdash nest is nestled within the wreath, and I cannot use my front door this spring. The songs are nice, though. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

We huddle 'round the conveyor belt, a dingy, rubber river with scuffed stainless banks. The belt is like a lottery, spewing out #luggage in the chaos of people catching up or coughing. I hope my #delivery comes soon and is not lost in Des Moines. $50 for this pleasure. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Thumbtacked posters #adorn faux-wood panelled walls. Shag carpet the color of a sun-bleached lion rests below a few couches whose upholstery is busier than O'Hare during the holidays. Descend #downstairs into a musty time capsule. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

A dark room on a day with no responsibilities is filled with the sparce taps of rain upon the roof. After a welcoming introductory sonata, the shower soon swells into a full #symphony, nature's #passport to relaxation. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

On a Tuesday, he had #embarked on a plan to commit a bit of light #treason. However, when the car wouldn't start, he got a bit #spooked. What else could go wrong? In the end, he went back inside and had a nice bowl of popcorn. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

What an #oddball. He ate cereal without milk, faced the wrong way in an #elevator, and gave honest, detailed answers whenever someone asked, "How are you?" #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Sodium vapor street lights hum in the night, painting city streets yellow as footsteps tap in #regret. An old friend called fog comes along to dabble in the mood. Atmospheric noir on a weeknight always seems so #bleak. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

"You're always so pessimistic. Try focusing on happy memories or something." "Like what?" "What about a pleasant meal you had as a kid?" "I #recall finding a #beak in my fried chicken once." "I said happy memories." "Best I can do." #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

He wondered how #common folk grieved. Folks with nine-to-fivers, two kids in the suburbs, air-fryer weeknight dinners. His world of violence never allowed that, but then he met her. Now in her absence, he weathered a #squall of #memories in a whiskey storm. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

They did #live streaming events to show their #boho lifestyle, but what they really proved was how annoying they were. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Plate after plate of succulent #dishes barely touched at the party honoring the #successor to the crown while his subjects bled in the fields to put a pittance upon their tables. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

They spent the summer of 1931 a bit differently. All year they studied hard at college. Good grades and popular extracurriculars. Once they graduated, they ran hooch down from Canada into speakeasies. A #dash of the #illicit was a hell of an internship. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

They lived under the stars, traveling in a caravan with little worries and less money. Evenings were magical, spent under the stars, faces aglow to merry campfires as corn liquor in #tin cups #bewitched the hours. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Each day a new struggle, like he has to sew on #patches to keep his soul together. Then bright pink kisses the dark horizon, and he takes #consolation in the #sunrise. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

Shot glass #soliloquy. Neat but chased with regret. At least it's short, unlike some rambling moonshine monologue. #vss365 #amwriting

Just after midnight and only a few cats remain in the dive. A muted trumpet serenades a brushed drum rhythm. What lights suffer the joint are dimmed further by a smoky haze. Perhaps all that makes a lonely bourbon taste better. Noir #chic. #vss365 #amwriting

As he grew older, simple things brought greater joy, like nature's daily summer concerts. He ate breakfast while enjoying a symphony of songbirds and sipped cocktails listening to the crickets' #vespertine rhapsody. #vss365 #amwriting

"What a socially chiling time to be alive." "Yeah, but how to we fix it?" "Maybe bring back the #chivalrous code. I mean, without the whole combat thing. Already enough of that." "So, being kind without expecting something in return?" "Wouldn't that be a #miracle?" #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

#First_time at the new job like being trapped in the #aphotic zone, unable to even articulate the #cardinal directions. At least there's a pizza party on Thursday. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

We thought the bartender a #saint for dealing with the guy at the bar. Pastel shirt and an oversized sport coat with the sleeves rolled up. How #suave. Turns out he was a time traveler from the '80s jumping 40 years into the future just to find out comedies suck, now. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Staring at memories, #reflections of good times long gone and bad decisions still reining #mesh into a stew of sorrow. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

#Ghosts whisper to me on occasion, usually #timed when I least expect it. They say they're a #marker of the past, of the history of a certain place, insisting they must echo things not to be forgotten. What they need to do is stop scaring the shit out of me. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues

"We need to discuss the budget." "Sure thing. I'd love to talk about #tennis." "What? That's hardly #relevant." "It absolutely is." "How so?" "Because I really don't want to talk about the budget." #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

There was nothing #specific about him. His goal in life was "to be successful." While handsome, he looked like every model in department store catalogue from the '80s. His favorite food was "soup." Just a boring guy. #vss365 #amwriting

Beware the warning of #action in repose, like the eyes of a cat, impossibly large an instant before the pounce. #vss365 #amwriting

"What #option have we?" they asked, marching towards destiny. "Many," she said, "only don't let them choose for you." And so the wise among them left the road. #vss365

Drifting off as dreams say #goodbye to #reality. What fanciful adventures await? Oh! What's this? I find #hickory flooring under the carpet in the living room. What wild concepts my middle-aged mind conjures. Still, I fist bump the unicorn eating pizza. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

Grainy smiles still warm in an old #photo. What dreams and #goals they have shining in their eyes, captured forever on glossy paper. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

"Why are you wasting your time with those #science experiments?" asked the #rich man. "To make the world better," I said. "For whom?" he asked. "But who benefits from all your wealth?" "What a ridiculous question." "Precisely," I said. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

I attended a party held at a mansion of one of the city's most opulent residents. After hors d'oeuvres, wanting to avoid empty chat with vapid characters, I walked the halls. Each bathroom had a #number of sinks. Who needs this many #faucets? Maybe to wash off the stink of caviar. #vss365 #vssdaily

I grew up on a #block where kids told tales of a group of wild bullies which ruled the streets after dark. A gang of vicious older kids with huge egos as thin as balloons. Perhaps no #myth, we fled home to safety each evening when the street lights burned. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

#Roller coaster of emotions, from resounding glee to a pit of despair. What full #measure of character does it take to stay optimistic? Don't forget your #meds, I guess. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

He never read any #literature, proclaiming he had neither the time nor interest. Thus, on his deathbed, when he realized all the adventures he had missed, he proclaimed with an appropriate lack of imagination, " #Oops!" #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

"What was your dissertation?" "Donuts." "What?" "Well, officially, 'The Baker's Dozen Isn't Enough: #History and and Societal Impacts of Donuts Since the Industrial Revolution.'" "Huh. What'd you glean from your research?" "13 isn't enough donuts. And about 20 pounds." #vss365 #amwriting

Impossible cartography, tracking the tectonic shifting #geography of the soft, purring ranges upon the comforter as they chase the sun with imperceptible movement. #vss365 #amwriting

Went to this dive bar #famous for their burgers. They didn't say how well the whiskey flows there, so I can't remember the burger. The devil's in the details, and I think he has a booth in the back of that bar. #vss365 #amwriting

In the end, they #waged war on #education, which, not coincidentally, was very much an uneducated thing to do. #vss365 #BookishTues #amwriting

Hours spent doing #domestic chores. I tell myself it's a #blessing; not everyone has the ability to complete such menial tasks or a home in which to do them. No, I still hate chores. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Sun #rays warm #cherry floors. The perfect cook regardless of season. Ask the cat pastries baking within. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Heavy fog #merges with the countryside like a murky dream. A once familiar landscape now a muted #argent canvas, waiting to be saved by a merciful sun. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Under the shimmering #arch of the canopy of a small wood, we spent summer afternoons #experimenting. Some days we'd build a fort from branches, others a space craft from the same materials. Whatever we did came from the hot #ignition of pure imagination. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

Soon the leaves will be raked to the curb like yesterday's #trash, but I enjoy them for now, a red blanket hugging summer's lawn against the #creep of winter's bite. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting