| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: the crowd cheered at every falling rafter, and the volunteer fire
department sprayed it with a garden hose. And in the house Alex
and Halsey searched every corner of the lower floor, finding no
one.
The truth of my story was shown by the broken window and the
overturned chair. That the unknown had got up-stairs was almost
impossible. He had not used the main staircase, there was no way
to the upper floor in the east wing, and Liddy had been at the
window, in the west wing, where the servants' stair went up. But
we did not go to bed at all. Sam Bohannon and Warner helped in
the search, and not a closet escaped scrutiny. Even the cellars
The Circular Staircase |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: youngster, can you keep your nerve?"
"I think so."
"Wal, you go after the ole feller. You can't miss him, an' he won't be far.
You'll hear him bellerin' long before you git to him, though he might lay
low, so you steer clear of big boulders an' thickets. Kill him, an' then
run back an' take up this draw. The she bear is cute an' may give me the
slip, but if she doesn't climb out soon I'll head her off. Hurry on, now.
Keep your eye peeled, an' you'll be safe as if you were to home."
With that he disappeared round the corner of stone wall where the canyon
divided. I wheeled and went to the right. This wing of the canyon twisted
and turned and was full of stones. A shallow sheet of water gleamed over
The Young Forester |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Poems by T. S. Eliot: My smile falls heavily among the bric-à-brac.
"Perhaps you can write to me."
My self-possession flares up for a second;
This is as I had reckoned.
"I have been wondering frequently of late
(But our beginnings never know our ends!)
Why we have not developed into friends."
I feel like one who smiles, and turning shall remark
Suddenly, his expression in a glass.
My self-possession gutters; we are really in the dark.
"For everybody said so, all our friends,
|
