Subj : Mystic Pi Year of the Dragon
To   : All
From : Mystic Pi BBS
Date : Tue Apr 09 2024 02:03 am

 _________________________________________
/ We were young and our happiness dazzled \
| us with its strength. But there was     |
| also a terrible betrayal that lay       |
| within me like a Merle Haggard song at  |
| a French restaurant. [...]              |
|                                         |
| I could not tell the girl about the     |
| woman of the tollway, of her milk white |
| BMW and her Jordache smile. There had   |
| been a fight. I had punched her         |
| boyfriend, who fought the mechanical    |
| bulls. Everyone told him, "You ride the |
| bull, senor. You do not fight it." But  |
| he was lean and tough like a bad        |
| rib-eye and he fought the bull. And     |
| then he fought me. And when we finished |
| there were no winners, just men doing   |
| what men must do. [...]                 |
|                                         |
| "Stop the car," the girl said.          |
|                                         |
| There was a look of terrible sadness in |
| her eyes. She knew about the woman of   |
| the tollway. I knew not how. I started  |
| to speak, but she raised an arm and     |
| spoke with a quiet and peace I will     |
| never forget.                           |
|                                         |
| "I do not ask for whom's the tollway    |
| belle," she said, "the tollway belle's  |
| for thee."                              |
|                                         |
| The next morning our youth was a        |
| memory, and our happiness was a lie.    |
| Life is like a bad margarita with good  |
| tequila, I thought as I poured whiskey  |
| onto my granola and faced a new day.    |
|                                         |
| -- Peter Applebome, International       |
| Imitation Hemingway                     |
|                                         |
\ Competition                             /
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|02      \                    / \  //\
       \    |\___/|      /   \//  \\
            /0  0  \__  /    //  | \ \    
           /     /  \/_/    //   |  \  \  
           @_^_@'/   \/_   //    |   \   \ 
           //_^_/     \/_ //     |    \    \
        ( //) |        \///      |     \     \
      ( / /) _|_ /   )  //       |      \     _\
    ( // /) '/,_ _ _/  ( ; -.    |    _ _\.-~        .-~~~^-.
  (( / / )) ,-{        _      `-.|.-~-.           .~         `.
 (( // / ))  '/\      /                 ~-. _ .-~      .-~^-.  \
 (( /// ))      `.   {            }                   /      \  \
  (( / ))     .----~-.\        \-'                 .~         \  `. \^-.
             ///.----..>        \             _ -~             `.  ^-`  ^-_
               ///-._ _ _ _ _ _ _}^ - - - - ~                     ~-- ,.-~
                                                                  /.-~

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Raspberry Pi/32)
 * Origin: Mystic Pi BBS bcw142.zapto.org (21:1/145)

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