To honor the requests of readers, I will fill in the blanks; the parts I left out concerning Marlin, the Nashville homeless man I tried to help described in Marlin & the Duck Part I(below.) I'm not sure what percentage of homeless folks he represented, but at the time, I thought he was the exception. In retrospect and even as time went on, I came to realize many things I did not know in the beginning, but I also think he changed (digressing once again to alcohol) toward the end of the three or so years I knew him...

In this world of progress, where has it led us and where are we headed?

I had always wanted to talk to a homeless person--someone considered a bum; to find out how they got that way, if they had any aspirations and if there was anything I could do to help them change their situation. I finally got the chance...

Can fireworks parallel a much more significant issue about theirs and our existence?

We are modern now, though everyone throughout time could have said that. Still, we revolve differently even more so these days; relate to each other in continuing new ways. We are advancing in certain aspects, but in others, are we digressing?

How much would a person of the past understand of the dialogue we speak today if we conversed about the common things we have and do? Especially if their lifetimes did not overlap or touch.

Remember me? I used to write you letters many years ago, listing what I wanted from Christmas: tangibles like toys and games, mostly. But with age, my list has become much different now.

All I wanted was a nice, quiet experience of watching a few stars tumble through the sky during the expected meteor shower. How could things go so awry?

Years after they were written, I, as a snooping child, found her old love letters penned by a soldier in World War II, yet she had never married. Now she had died at age 95 and I, as an adult, had the chance to finish reading them to answer years of questions. (True story)