...best american short stories.
dialogue prompts from 100 years of the best american short stories, edited by lorrie moore and heidi pitlor.
death-bed promises should be broken as lightly as they are seriously made.
the dead have no right to lay their clammy fingers upon the living.
if you're going to snore, go to bed!
you look as if you'd seen a ghost or found a gold mine. i don't know which.
i don't expect to marry anybody.
don't ever bet on anything.
i didn’t realize it, but the days came along one after another, and then two years were gone, and everything was gone, and i was gone.
we've suffered like everybody, but on the whole it's a good deal pleasanter.
we were a sort of royalty, almost infallible, with a sort of magic around us.
i should think you'd have had enough of bars.
don't you want a cocktail before dinner?
i want to get to know you.
i don't really need much taking care of anymore.
i don't want you to forget.
have you got a picture of ___?
family quarrels are bitter things. they don't go according to rules.
i was caught in a trap. it wasn't set for me, but it got me all the same.
you wanted a story, so i gave you a good one.
write me a letter. don't forget. i'll be waiting.
my dreams never renege on me. they're all i have to go by.
i don't put the respect on dreams i once did.
are you sure nobody knows where i am?
i don't see why you should ever be afraid of anything.
you know i'd take care of you if anything ever happened, don't you?
don't go away. stay and talk.
you don't have to worry, you know. i wouldn't ever let anything happen to you.
i wish you wouldn't look so unhappy.
i didn't think you saw me. not at first.
how can you get away from anything here?
we're all human on earth.
we couldn't get away from each other if we tried.
i don't want to do a thing from now on till evermore.
sometimes there are about fifteen or twenty minutes in the week when i feel like myself.
i thought it might make you happy. i wanted to make you happy.
and what if they can hear us? who cares?
i thought you were too smart to get hung.
i swear if i'd known what i was doing i would have never hurt you so.
maybe it does some good if you believe it.
i hope you'll remember the things i tried to teach you.
honey, there's a lot that you don't know. but you are going to find it out.
don't you forget what i told you, you hear?
i think people ought to do what they want to do. what else are they alive for?
i can't forget where i've been, and what i've been.
i can't really talk about it. not to you, not to anybody.
with the world in the mess it's in, it's a wonder we can enjoy anything.
if you know who you are, you can go anywhere.
buck up. it won't kill you.
don't you ever want to rest?
i think death is a wonderful thing. i look forward to it.
what tone? i didn't take any tone.
you give everyone too much. that's your trouble.
i don't know why i did it. i'm sorry for it, isn't that enough?
god listened and didn't say yes or no.
you should have gone after them with an ax.
you've been lucky. you always have been.
i bet you're afraid of me.
why aren't you married? you're not ugly. are you gay or something?
how nice. you always try to say the right thing.
you can't seem to keep your mind on one thing for more than a minute at a time.
it's not exactly the kind of thing you can bring up over lunch.
can you keep a secret about what i did today?
i thought when i left, it would just go away.
i want more days like that.
you don't have a heart. there's nothing to love in you.
would you tell me something if i asked you? would you tell me the truth?
other people's dreams are boring.
two salaries and no kids, that's the way to go.
i always seem to miss you.
i don't think i'll ever be dead enough --- or dead long enough --- to get the taste of this life off my teeth.
your optimism always surprises me.
pick on someone your own size.
promise you won't get mad?
i could yell at you, but why waste my breath?
better late than never. i was sure i'd see you someday.
you're a regular whirling dervish.
i don't watch tv. i don't own one.
how do you connect with the rest of the world?
did you like growing up there?
i don't usually say stuff like that.
i've been getting these mixed signals from you. i can't tell if you're attracted to me or not.
you don't have to love me. i love you enough for both of us.
group sex is for teenagers.
i think our hopes are made when we are young, and we can never adjust them to the real world.
how long can you use your parents as an excuse?
a life is like a house. one has to plan carefully where all the furniture will go.
mr. grief and i went a few rounds.
if you think about fear, then you'll be afraid.
i want to be a hero, you know?
you can always trust unhappiness.
i will keep coming until you speak to me.
what brings you here after all these years?
can i hug you? i'd really like to give you a hug.
i worried about you the whole time.
i wanted to be with you all the time.
the moment you fall in love with someone, you are lost.
i had to let you make your own mistakes.
dededos
prguitarman
romaincrisis
gummygunk
discoholicmusic
stormborns
dailybridgerton
theartofmadeline
