1
On Christmas Day, 1957, two inmates of the state prison in Concord, New Hampshire, escaped across a frozen lake and plunged into the forest, pursued by dogs.
2
No one in that town had ever seen a more beautiful woman. Married three times, she lived alone for years and was last seen — young again — boarding a train with a small suitcase.
3
The crooked lawyer who shot himself wrote a suicide note with his left hand, though he was right-handed.
4
The moon rose behind a ship gliding through mountainous waves, the passengers on deck wearing thick coats to conceal the radiance of their bodies.
5
Her brooch was a yellow star, reflected in the still water as she recounted the story of her life.
6
Just as the engineer had designed it years ago, no one could cast a shadow while crossing the bridge into town.
7
Two blue fish hovered below the ice in the lake, their gills fluttering once every hour.
8
No one understood better than the doctor’s widow that every man’s life is a blind alley.
9
For the burglar’s children, the prospect of another week alone was less frightening than the sight of their mother’s photograph torn up, taped back together, and tacked to the wall.
10
At his funeral a blind woman sang into the rain. Dogs were approaching from the forest. The sole mourners were two old men in blue suits, shoulder to shoulder with bowed heads and laughing eyes.