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| Link | Quote | Stars | Tags | Author |
| f2daa1a | It was the adventure which had called to his soul. All those years riding across open country as he hunted down the men who'd killed his parents was not so easily forgotten. He loved the feel of the outdoors, just as he had when he was but a boy. Wyn felt a freedom atop Tony that Wyn felt nowhere else. Mountains and rivers, plains and sagebrush, crystal-clear lakes and chilly desert nights were all he really needed. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 5c420e0 | Lone Tree was a cow-town without the cow. No one I ever talked to had an answer as to how it had sprung up here in the middle of nowhere, nor did they know who the genius was who had thought it a good idea. Picture an old western ghost town, add a filling-station, an abandoned drive-in, a couple of folks milling about just so you knew someone lived there, and you'd be pretty close to Lone Tree. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 95fcdd3 | How is Maria's mother doing, if I may ask?" His tone became less formal. "She is very well, thank you. She is quite involved in charity work and has those who love her around her, I believe. It helps." "I'm sure it does." I considered carefully my next words." | Bobby Underwood | ||
| c4e6091 | I looked at Rushing River and he looked at me. Then we both looked up at the sky. "You thinkin' what I'm thinking?" He nodded. "Fell from the sky." "Any Indian legends about that?" He shrugged. "Got nothin'." | Bobby Underwood | ||
| b48bec0 | It was also easy to do because just about everything annoyed them. I really got Abbie torqued one time while she was eating a tuna sandwich and droning on about how she only ate tuna that were "dolphin safe" as she called it. I pointed out it wasn't so safe for the tuna, which she must have turned her back on when it came to caring about God's little creations, since she had a mouthful of the tasty things. She got so red I thought her head .. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 2e11a7b | Value-wise, Crystal Falls still had theirs. It was American heartland conservative. There were three churches in Crystal Falls, all of them well-maintained and fully attended every Sunday. Of course, that didn't mean there wasn't a lot of hanky-panky going on. It just meant the hanky-panky was a bit more innocent than everywhere else in America. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| a875ebd | Unit One, I read you. What's your location, Unit Two?" We only had two units, so numbering them was unnecessary, but it sounded more official. I'd given Janie the Mustang because she liked it and because the Bronco was a little contrary on cold mornings. I didn't want her standing out in the snow on a winter morning trying to figure out why it wouldn't start. Plus it made her feel important being Unit One. And yeah, it did make her look eve.. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| dae7676 | One does not have to give up their own beliefs to understand and respect those of another people. We must learn to live together, now, there is no other way. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| ade44c7 | Well!" I said huffily, doing my best Jack Benny impression." | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 0a61a0d | Wyn noticed Jace had what appeared to be a copy of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. He smiled to himself. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 0580df5 | There was something assured in the way he blended in with the surrounding mountains and lake. A sense of quiet deadliness was suggested by the low-slung gun belt, its holster tied down, and the Colt butt positioned for a quick draw. His movements had an ease about them, giving the impression of a man who did not look for trouble, but would handle it if the need arose. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 1659038 | Rick was stretched out on the floor taking a nap. He was the lightest sleeper I'd ever known. He could doze just about anywhere and be up and alert in an instant. His ability to drop off and then wake up at the slightest sound or movement had kept us alive on one occasion as we were trying to make it to friendly forces after our crash. He opened one eye when he heard me then went back into his slumber. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| b1e3191 | Maybe the pictures are all black and white because things were black and white then, Nick." I knew exactly what she meant. There was a moral center then, and you could feel it still here in Grover's Creek. It was a time with a clearly defined sense of right and wrong, a time when values and integrity mattered, and the majority had both. And a time when love lasted forever." | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 6828453 | A light and intermittent snowfall kept my world white over the next several days. The air was fresh and pure, nature's white medicine removing all that was wrong in the world. I was glad I had taken the now lesser traveled roads marked in blue lines on the map. Hours would sometimes pass before another car broke the solitude. I always waved and so did they. I became less anonymous somehow and felt an instant kinship with anyone traversing .. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 67a9719 | One of those Los Angeles legends that add mystery to the bright lights and glamour. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| ed5e929 | I stood. She reached up and squeezed my hand, trying to hold on to this us, before we went through with it and became a different us, held together by our sin. I turned and headed down the cliffs to the sea without looking back, afraid her anguish would weaken my resolve. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 7825873 | Many people nowadays don't believe in things," she said softly. "Oh, they think they're all special, playing around with witchery and the dark stuff, but real miracles, things that can't be explained away, that have to be attributed to God, they scoff at. I'm not one of those people." | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 4e95b51 | I was listening to a replay of Art Bell hosting Dreamland, back when he was still doing the show. I let talk of UFOs and crop circles distract me from my own perplexing mystery. I believed again, but if fate was guiding me, what was it telling me to do? Maybe if I simply trusted what was happening, without question, a solution would present itself. If there was a divine plan, some otherworldly force at work here, it couldn't be such a cruel.. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 19f1266 | She loved San Francisco but always remembered the happiness of that summer traveling through lovely towns like Gundagai and Tumut. The rural countryside was beautiful, and the people were always ready to smile at a pretty young American girl on vacation. She knew she was just average pretty, but she felt beautiful that summer, a duck transformed into a graceful swan. Perhaps it was just that moment in a young girl's life when all things fee.. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| e44ac7f | The smell of Jasmine was in the sea air. Any other day I would have adhered to the Victory Speed but I couldn't wait to reach the village. I smiled to myself, thinking what a stir it would cause when I drove through in Deanna's car; a car that supposedly wouldn't start and couldn't be moved. Poppycock! I wasn't sure about Johnny's plight yet, and it might very well be that that part of the story was true. If so, I would have to break it to .. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| e6768a0 | Vera Lynn was telling me it would be a lovely day tomorrow as my new Packard wended its way along the winding shore road. The cool sea mist blowing in my face felt wonderful, a refreshing reminder that I was alive and life was good. It was a bright sunny morning, and the War would soon be over according to nearly everyone. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 6bbdb8f | We enjoyed our newfound intimacy, quietly and tenderly adoring each other as Jasper kept hopping into his pretty master's lap to be in the middle of things. There is nothing like love when it is new, especially when it comes quickly, and out of the blue. How we had found each other, why we had found each other, and the otherworldly mystery surrounding our romance -- much of which she was still unaware -- felt unimportant compared to being i.. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| bfd95c0 | I picked up the photo and studied it while Deanna set about rifling through her brother's chest of drawers. Physically, she looked the same in the picture, perhaps only a couple of years younger. Yet there was something perceptibly different about her in the photo that it took me a moment to decipher. She appeared to be much younger. She was smiling wide, her chin on her brother's shoulder. It was the eyes! They weren't vacant, but there wa.. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 53358c8 | I heard it first. Footsteps. They were faint, and not localized in any particular area, but they were footsteps. The sound was like an echo from very far away. If they were the kind of footsteps I believed them to be, they were coming from very far away, indeed. A chilly wind blew past me and Jasper barked, which woke Deanna, who was by my side in an instant. "Did you hear it, Mike? Sometimes there's a cold." No sooner had she spoken than .. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 9d3615f | It was still dark. I grabbed the Howzer by the bed and crept quietly from the bedroom. I saw her through the screen door and laid down the gun, my soul in turmoil. As she stood silently crying beneath the starry Spanish sky, I suddenly realized she wouldn't make it back from here. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 6e3146e | I became mad for a time, wanting to dig her up just to be certain she was dead. Once, I even had the shovel in my hand. But then I knew I could not let her suffer the indignity of a man who had lost his mind to grief and loss. Not a man at all, really, but a bio-organic whose soul might never recover from her quick and sudden departure from my life just as we'd found an avenue for happiness. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 0df6a49 | The boys weren't just whistling Dixie when they said she was a piece of junk that flew. The flying part I had yet to see but from the looks of her, it was going to be nothing short of a miracle from heaven if we cleared the forest at the end of the runway. She had more patches on her than a Georgia quilt, and though she was civilian, you could tell she'd caught some anti-aircraft fire somewhere along the way. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| e990eef | I'm glad you're along, Juanita. We may need you to translate." "I forget to tell, Johnny. My Spanish not so good. I from Tijuana." We all looked at her in disbelief and then the laughter started. This was going to be one bumpy ride all around." | Bobby Underwood | ||
| eef1693 | Suddenly hungry, I waved a goodbye to my new friend and headed for the open road once more. I slid in an old radio cassette and enjoyed a Jack Benny Christmas show. I was among the living again. It was a start. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 8699751 | found what I believed to be the shoulder and managed to stop. It felt solid. The storm was interfering with radio reception, so I bundled up and listened to tapes of Alan Ladd in Box 13 and Larry Thor in Broadway is My Beat to keep me company. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 7b71d6f | Not a momma's boy, just too much Gene Autry and not enough Bogart. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 6d6d856 | Don't come out from under unless you hear my voice. Understand?" Karen's eyes were full of tears but she nodded and slid beneath the Gremlin. I'd purchased it from some guy who'd been using it as a dune buggy, so the tires were oversized. She'd never have made it under the car if they hadn't been. I ran in the opposite direction, waving my arms to catch the attention of the alien piloting the saucer. It worked all too well. I ran faster tha.. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| a4261b1 | Alan Ladd as Neale Jordan Veronica Lake as Ellen Hillman Mike Mazurki as Paul Fontana Elisha Cook Jr. as Ciro Ricci Gloria Graham as May Martell Frank Lovejoy as Randolph McGraw Hugh Beaumont as Charlie Gray Lloyd Nolan as Victor Haskell June Lockhart as Janet Haskell James Craig as Eddie Lomax Laird Cregar as Frank Perkins William Bendix as Art Barker Richard Denning as Jerry Markle James Gleason as Sam Menard Tom Drake as Roy Douglas Dick.. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| b4a831a | But they weren't just bodies, they were people. People who'd awoken this Saturday morning with hopes and dreams; dreams of getting promoted and moving upstate to the country; hopes of having children and watching them come into their own; dreams of one day taking that vacation to Hawaii as Karen and I were always saving for, but never quite saving enough; hope that the new boy in school would ask you to the junior prom; dreams of getting in.. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 1f903c3 | Now people nowadays, especially the younger ones, they don't have an ounce of romance in their soul. It's all zombies and video games, shallow celebrities. They love insta-sex but make fun of what they call insta-love. They get a few minutes pleasure out of the foolin' around, but don't have the depth of heart to fall in love like a romantic will, so they scoff at it. Real love is like that sometimes. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| b9c2366 | I never had a more wonderful time with anyone than I had with Mary that afternoon. I won her a small stuffed bear, and felt ten feet tall. She introduced me to just about everyone, and it made me feel more at home than I'd felt in a long time. We ate hot dogs together, and talked. We talked the way people don't talk any longer, now that they have cell phones and electronic gadgets. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 2e130ec | Neither complained, because they liked going on dates -- when they were allowed -- and it was especially fun when they could double date. Dances and the malt shop, and occasional jaunts to see a Tyrone Power movie -- both thought he was dreamy -- filled up the moments when they weren't playing tennis at Riverside Cove Country Club -- Nancy only got in because Beverly's father owned the club -- or swimming. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| d613a14 | My little twenty-year-old thirteen-inch black-and-white TV had quit working a couple of months ago. I wouldn't be able to watch Jimmy Stewart discover it was a wonderful life for the millionth time on Christmas Day, not this year. I tried to concentrate on crime in Isola, but kept thinking about those tips; planning how I'd spend the dough. I'd stock up on food first, can goods and package stuff I could heat up on my hotplate. And cases of .. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 7567d49 | California during the 1940s had Hollywood and the bright lights of Los Angeles, but on the other coast was Florida, land of sunshine and glamour, Miami and Miami Beach. If you weren't already near California's Pacific Coast you headed for Florida during the winter. One of the things which made Miami such a mix of glitter and sunshine was the plethora of movie stars who flocked there to play, rubbing shoulders with tycoons and gangsters. Som.. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| f53f45e | Both of them grinned. "Must be a dame." "Better than that." "Watch out she don't start walking you by jewelry store windows," said Roy. "And make sure she don't have to attend no funerals anytime soon." "I'll do my best." | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 7ffd975 | I don't know if I'll get in with all the bad in life I done. But at least when Saint Peter, or whoever they got guardin' 'em asks what I did in life to deserve heaven, I'll be able to tell 'em about Kathy. On the plus side, I'll have one good thing... | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 6984a8a | San Francisco is still the loveliest city in the world for my money, despite how they've tried to ruin her. Yeah, it attracts all the weirdos, and some of them aren't harmless like they used to be in days gone by, but for the most part the people are lovely and easygoing, and there is a romanticism that exists in San Francisco that you can genuinely feel as you walk around. The wonderful things about her still remain; the wharf and fabled P.. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 5dcd44c | A singular, frightening truth begins to set in: we're all just a few bad breaks away from falling through the cracks and disappearing. As society gets more distanced from human interaction by technology, our collective compassion wanes, and the cracks get larger. | Bobby Underwood | ||
| 20d4c42 | I reached over and turned on the Buick Roadmaster's radio. It was Sunday night, and the Jack Benny program was starting. Even Rochester's interactions with Jack couldn't quell my apprehension tonight. | Bobby Underwood |