Bluffing

Bluffing

          In the short story "Bluffing" by Gail Helgason, a man named Liam claims to have gotten mauled by a bear in order to protect his girlfriend. Liam cares for his girlfriend; he even made plans for them to move down south! When they both encountered the bear, Gabriella instructed Liam on what to do, "Try backing off slowly" she yelled. Alas, she heard footsteps and noticed Liam not only took slow steps backwards, but was running away as fast as he could from the bear. As the bear chased him they passed right by Gabriella and kept on going, a heroic move by Liam. When they see each other in the hospital Liam even tells Gabriella that "[He] meant for the bear to come after [himself] instead of [her]", Acknowledging the fact that he would even go as far as risking his life for her safety. Liam is telling the truth when he says he lured the bear away from her, and he has scars to prove it!



Hourglass

 

           

 

 

               Hourglass; making the sand fall faster. It is said that the consumption of an entire cigarette
reduces ones life by 7 minutes. An elderly woman, exchanging the dry relaxation of a cigarette for time she has yet to live. It appears as though she is in a third-world country where stress is imminent, and as we all have habits to cope with our stress, she inhales the ataractic smoke. Her facial expression is emotionless. Each wrinkle represents a painful expierience not worth remembering; but still lingering in her subconsience like that time you called one of your teachers "mom". The lady almost emits this mysterious aura, as though she's seen it all before. The fact that she's wearing make-up suggests she still values her self image, but at the same time her consumption of tabacco suggests she's lacking very much will to live on. Could it be that the people with the most wisdom are the people with the least opportunity to spread it. Maybe everyone is just trying to get the most out of the sand in their hourglass.