She stood mesmerized as the figure emerged from the shadow and she could clearly see a tall, manly form, glistening black hair, penetrating dark eyes, a half-smile on soft, kissable lips, brawny shoulders narrowing toward a slim waist, and the firm muscled legs ending in cloven feet. — Nora Sampson

Words to Live By

When we are most concerned about others, we'll forget ourselves as if we were a rotting sack of potatoes thrown out with the trash. — Erin Hallmark

Power of Positive Thinking

Looking back at the past year — the kidnapping, the landslide, the dog attack, the tree falling on her car, along with her brother's inexplicable habit of showing up at every family party with a different girlfriend — Kim decided that it hadn't been so bad after all and wondered what on earth could happen next as she peered out the airplane door, waiting for the instructor to tell her when to jump. — Natalie Carbone

Sweepstakes Winner

If ever there were two people who desperately wanted to kiss each other at this exact moment, they were Jim and Betty, but since, at this exact moment, Betty was chained in the dungeon of a backwater prison in Argentina, and since Jim was currently plummeting toward the ground in Montana after a freak hang-glider failure, it wasn't very likely to happen. — David Goddard

NEXT WEEK: Best of the Bad entries submitted by readers 18 and under!

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