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rush limbaugh: what i love about san angelo, texas, is you have to be
going there to get there. you will never accidentally run into the place.
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anne: you're eating chocolate cake? what is it, ten o'clock?
me: nine forty-seven.
anne: that is a whore's breakfast.
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the other day i was walking norah. and usually when i walk her i'm reminded of the ways her heart's been broken. she's scared of men, she's scared of overlarge trash cans, she's scared of the squeaky noise i make when i sneeze. when she hears the ticking of a bike coming up behind us she winds through my legs and presses her face against my thigh, as though she can't bear a world so full of reminders. she's even leery of the wind.
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but this day. this day was different. i saw a pack of asian runners coming for us in the distance, which for norah was roughly the equivalent of the apocalypse, but with no jesus or mel gibson. i knew she was going to try and make a break for it, or worse, freeze up and refuse to move. and after i got a better look at their shiny metallic short shorts, i couldn't say i blamed her. it's going to be okay, i told her. it's going to be okay, i told me.
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the pack blew past us. for a moment norah stopped walking, one paw poised in the air, her head tipped towards them. i waited, apprehensive. then she opened her mouth wide in a dog laugh, gathered her muscles together in a crouch, and took off like a shot. in two weeks, i had never even seen her walk at a fast clip. i'd finally assumed her tail was permanently between her legs because of some kind of birth defect.
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when she hit the end of her leash, a fraction of a second later, she twisted and leapt straight up in the air. there was no fear in her, only sheer life. if she'd had a voice, she would have been shouting, run with me! Run, woman! We're missing it!
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she was absolutely beautiful. absolutely glorious. we will rise again, she told me. it's better than you could have imagined. you'll know it when you see it.
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her fear evaporated that day. seeing a pack running together finally reminded her of something good, something truer to her nature. she's still reserving judgement on the trash cans, but she walks like she is a supermodel, and the world, her catwalk. pun intended.
