Mindy McGinnis

You can't change the things you've done. It's now and the here on out you've got control of.

Men got two guns, you know. One for now," he tapped the barrel of his gun against her nose. "And one for later." When his free hand went to his zipper, she twisted underneath him, bringing her knee into his groin and pulling her knife from her boot."Mother taught me to carry a knife for always."She left him holding his intestines in disbelief as she disappeared down the hill, his gun tucked securely in her waistband.

...just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's not the truth...

My arrival saved the kingdom, while his only reiterated that his blood would fill the throne one day.

So then the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association merged to create the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which personally I think is rather a mouthful,' Adelaide said as she set down her wineglass.'I'm sure others have much shorter terms,' the doctor said, sawing into his steak with more vigor than necessary.'Such as?' Grace asked.'There are plenty who just call us bitches, dear.

When animals make a stupid mistake, you laugh at them. A cat misjudges a leap. A dog looks overly quizzical about a simple object. These are funny things. But when a person doesn__ understand something, if they miscalculate and hit the brakes too late, blame is assigned. They are stupid. They are wrong. Teachers and cops are there to sort it out, with a trail of paperwork to illustrate the stupidity. The faults. The evidence and incidents of these things. We have entire systems in place to help decide who is what. Sometimes the systems don__ work. Families spend their weekend afternoons at animal shelters, even when they__e not looking for a pet. They come to see the unwanted and unloved. The cats and dogs who don__ understand why they are these things. They are petted and combed, walked and fed, cooed over and kissed. Then they go back in their cages and sometimes tears are shed. Fuzzy faces peering through bars can be unbearable for many. Change the face to a human one and the reaction changes. The reason why is because people should know better. But our logic is skewed in this respect. A dog that bites is a dead dog. First day at the shelter and I already saw one put to sleep, which in itself is a misleading phrase. Sleep implies that you have the option of waking up. Once their bodies pass unconsciousness to something deeper where systems start to fail, they revolt a little bit, put up a fight on a molecular level. They kick. They cry. They don__ want to go. And this happens because their jaws closed over a human hand, ever so briefly. Maybe even just the once. But people, they get chances. They get the benefit of the doubt. Even though they have the higher logic functioning and they knew when they did it THEY KNEW it was a bad thing.

Newness wears off.This is something I__e learned about relationships. I__e had more than a few run their course, the idiosyncrasies that were once endearing becoming annoying, the jump of my heart into my throat at the sight of her lessening to a skip, then a pause, then the bare recognition that at some point slips into dread, and you know it__ time to end it.It__ different with Alex. The newness might have faded, which is inevitable, but it__ grown into something better. The panic of not being able to come up with something to say to her has settled into the comfort of companionable silence, my hand resting on her knee, or her head on my chest. The frantic need to be near her and know how she feels has morphed into an almost pleasant ache of missing her when she__ not with me, because I know we__l be together again.

If either one of you is ever in a situation you__e not entirely comfortable with__all me. I don__ care what time it is. I don__ care who is there or what is going on. You call me and I will come get you.

I live in a world where not being molested as a child is considered luck.

Where you go, he'll go," Stebbs said."I know it.""Tough caring about people, isn't it?"... "Wouldn't trade it," she said.

Why me, then?_ I ask. __hy not Branley? She__ way hotter and was just as drunk as I was.__lex shakes her head as she sits back down. __hysical attractiveness has nothing to do with it. You were alone, isolated, and weak. The three of them had been watching girls all night, waiting for someone to separate from a group. It happened to be you, but it could__e been anyone else. Opportunity is what matters, nothing else. [_] I__ telling you, Claire. It doesn__ matter. What you were wearing. What you look like. Nothing. Watch the nature channel. Predators go for the easy prey.

I love Sara, but something was taken from me at the church, something that she can__ relate to. Every time I walk outside I think maybe someone is going to grab me. I take a sip of a glass of water I got out of my own tap and swish it around in my mouth first, like maybe it__ a threat. And I__ starting to understand why Alex walks around on the balls of her feet, why her back muscles are always tensed, like a cat ready to spring.She knows. She gets it. So that__ why I__ going to tell Sara that I__ okay and leave it at that.

They were so thrilled when I said I__ a virgin,_ I blurt out. ____ so fucking stupid.__ start crying again, and Alex hands me a napkin. __ou__e not stupid,_ she says. __ou simply don__ assume people mean you harm.___eah, well._ I blow my nose loudly. __ast night that equaled being stupid.___o, it means you__e normal,_ Alex says.

Everyone thinks if you fix a male dog it will lower his aggression, but most of the biters are female. It__ basic instinct to protect their womb. You see it in all animals - the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

A puppy feels like life and love. Their entire bodies are soft__ur, skin, the pads of their feet new and delicate. They radiate warmth in the way science can explain, but it goes further than that. The heat of affection pours out of their eyes and makes their little butts wiggle like crazy as soon as they see a person__hey don__ even care who. They__e love, encapsulated.

You see it in all animals - the female of the species is more deadly than the male.''Except humans.

We're cleaning cat ears.Rhonda doesn't require us to come in on Sundays, but somebody has to feed the animals. Yesterday Alex and I helped five cats and two dogs find homes...We agreed we probably could have placed a couple more cats if their ears were nice and pink inside like in the wet-food commercials. We told Rhonda to take a much-deserved break today and we'd come in, feed everybody, and make our cats a little more like the ones on TV.So I skipped church to clean cat ears.

Emotions had welled close to the surface, and she thought her heart had never felt so full as it did standing next to the defiled grave of a whore while lunatics sang the national anthem.