Round 1. Fight!

He wasn’t my grandfather and to be totally honest I wasn’t even related to him. His son was a good friend of my dad so when I was little my parents would tell me, “We are going to Grampa Cliff and Grandma Inez’s place for dinner tonight.” Despite not being remotely related to Cliffton he would always greet me with a hug that was not proportionally sized to his frail body. However, when he would inform me that, “Brody, you’re getting larger every time I see you!” I could still hear that his voice was diminishing quickly. It wasn’t a shock when he went into cardiac arrest, he was nearing 85 and his failing heart could not keep the rhythm. We waited on those soft, cushioned seats with the armrests that never seemed to be in the proper place for comfort. The clock hung on the wall, crooked, but still serving its purpose. The clock was his heart and with every shift of the second hand I could feel Cliff’s heart beat weakly from two doors down. Why does it happen that when you have to wait in a hospital something always makes you aggravated? Whether it was the sniffling of the common cold or the melting snow that had snuck through the bottom of my shoe and began to pull on my sock, I didn’t know. My dry fingers rubbed against one another like two rigid pieces of cardboard. When the young doctor opened the door we all looked to him for answers, he gave us few. Cliff had survived the first round but, with his age, it wouldn’t be long before we were all in the same place. Only temporary relief had been found but that was enough to sustain us till the next time that Cliffton had a boxing match with death.

Of Bears and “Men”

Is Liam a hero or is he a coward? In the short story "Bluffing" by Gail Helgason, Gabriella and her boyfriend Liam, are going to hike in the rocky mountains above Jasper, Alberta in order to share a nice lunch beside the lake. However, when Gabriella rushes in to the woods, away from Liam, after hearing irritable news about his upcoming adventure to "Yosemite, [or] maybe New Mexico", she finds herself running into a hulking grizzly bear. Liam follows close behind and upon his recognition of the grizzly bear he proceeds to sprint away at full speed. Later, in the hospital, where Liam lies in a bed, being held together by tethers of adhesive and the stitches strung through his skin, he claims that he ran away from the bear to save Gabriella from the potential attack. This is where the question arises, is Liam telling the truth? Or is Liam too afraid to admit of his strewn thoughts in the panicked situation? It is quite clear that Liam was just plain scared because he runs away, does not heed Gabriella's advice and he isn't connected with nature. To begin, when Liam finds himself in the predicament that Gabriella is in, she has already assessed it and is giving him advice that he should "try backing off slowly". Despite, Gabriella's efforts to help Liam and herself stay together and alive Liam decides to tear into the woods and the bear gives chase. Furthermore, Gabriella, being a Biology teacher and being connected with nature trusts her instincts and crouches into the fetal position whilst covering her neck as "the bear lunges forwards" but the bear doesn't want the easy kill: the bear wants to have some fun. Finally, Liam is a rock climber and he is clueless what he must do in their predicament and when he finds himself staring death in the eyes, he doesn't "[drop his] eyes from the bear's stare" like what Gabriella did, he tries to out run it. Luckily, Liam managed to survive but when he wakes up to find Gabriella with him he tries to salvage whatever is left of his dignity and he introduces the controversial statement.

Puff, Puff, pass it on.

Each wrinkle marked a cigarette that she dragged on until it was nothing. However, addiction didn't care what you would look like. High school days were her's to remember, playing hookie to skip Phys Ed and hang out behind the school. "Lisa's got a dart!" and everybody knew the rule. Puff, puff, pass it on. Surely, she couldn't get addicted if she only took two hits at a time. But that was years ago and the idea of quitting was somewhere hiding, probably behind all the packages of cigarettes at the corner store. One day, she will quit and she will never need a cigarette again! But her days are numbered. Surely she still doesn't need to smoke, she just smokes for something to do! Atleast that is what she convinced herself. Her eyes have long since seen beauty and her skin had the smooth grain of 60 grit sand paper. Her nose knew one smell and it made friends with that smell many packs of Marlboro ago. Her mouth, touched by the scent of the country air before infected by the poison of smoke. Smoking is a way to escape she told herself when she was younger, but know she is finding out that she was only ever trying to escape herself.

Every Scar is a Story

One more chop and surely he'll get through this log... Thud... Thud... Thud. Okay, this time he will raise the hatchet above his head and bring it down hard! Oops, that was his toe. He's young, spontaneous and as prone to accidents as they come. Brody Hormes has so many scars on his body that some people think that scarring himself is just another one of his pass times, heck, he has more scars than he does finger tips.When Brody isn't outside near the wood pile, swinging a hatchet into his toe, he is probably indoors where he stands a much better chance at not having to visit the hospital. However, his whole life isn't just a big injury, he does his homework like a little Mormon boy reads his Book of Mormon and plays video games religously. Despite not being able to perform in Soccer, even by his low standards, he has played the game since age 6. He can ski any run at Apex and he can even do monsterous 180's off of small jumps. Brody prides himself in his school marks but he can't face the fact that he is probably addicted to his computer.