Lining up the Stones

<p>Making choices. How do we decide? By the edicts of religion? By public opinion? By the heart itself which wavers and wobbles and bends and harbors mysteries we hardly understand?</p><p></p><p>A middle-aged family man longs to change his life but doesn't know how. </p><p></p><p>Two strangers dining at neighboring tables in an historical tavern find their lives are altered by watching each other although not a single word is exchanged.</p><p></p><p>A lonely Asian woman tends a public garden and faces a crucial life choice arising from an unexpected encounter.</p><p></p><p>An older woman who is married to an abusive man lives on an isolated farm in western Maryland and yearns to visit Positano Italy.</p><p></p><p>The bond between twin girls turns deadly as their personalities collide.</p><p></p><p>One of two brothers commits an egregious act on the other and regrets it all his life.</p><p></p><p>Read to explore the emotional dilemmas common to all relationships no matter the age status or gender. Read to unearth each character's struggle with a destiny in whose clutches he or she flails around for control. On these pages are written stories of greed deceit loneliness joy regret awe doubt discretion and more twenty-four stories that unravel lives in which you may find elements of your own.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The world breaks everyone and afterward some are strong in the broken places.</p><p></p><p>-Ernest Hemingway</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I never lose. Either I win or learn.</p><p></p><p>-Nelson Mandela</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Between stimulus and response is the freedom to choose.</p><p></p><p>-Viktor E. Frankl</p>