It is hard to bring paedophile rings to justice. Thankfully it does happen. Perhaps the most horrific recent case came before the High Court in Edinburgh in June 2007. It involved a mother who stood by and watched as her daughter of nine was gang-rap...
One weekend it rained for 48 hours without stopping. The rain beat like bony fingers against the window panes. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Fungus was growing on the walls. I polished off a bottle of gin sitting huddled over the two-bar electric fire and...
William groaned. It was Vimes. Worse, he was smiling, in a humourless predatory way. "Ah, Mr de Worde," he said, stepping inside. "There are several thousand dogs stampeding through the city at the moment. This is an interesting fact, isn't it?" He l...
Oh, what had she done?" He'd startled her; that was the problem. It was all his fault he was lying on the ground, looking rather cherub like, his blond hair curling about his ears, his bright blue eyes closed now, his masculine lips parted slightly a...
YOUR ABUSIVE PARTNER DOESN’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HIS ANGER; HE HAS A PROBLEM WITH YOUR ANGER. One of the basic human rights he takes away from you is the right to be angry with him. No matter how badly he treats you, he believes that your voice sho...
Volatile expressions of anger and hostility combined with a tendency to blame others often result from feeling shame.... If you are shame-prone, any accusation directed at you, regardless of how mildly it may be delivered, has the potential to make y...
At the edge of the still, dark pool that was the sea, at the brimming edge of freedom where no boat was to be seen, she spoke the first words of the few they were to exchange. ‘I cannot swim. You know it?” In the dark she saw the flash of his smi...
I have sometimes wondered why Jesus so frequently touched the people he healed, many of whom must have been unattractive, obviously diseased, unsanitary, smelly. With his power, he easily could have waved a magic wand. In fact, a wand would have reac...
If You Knew What if you knew you'd be the last to touch someone? If you were taking tickets, for example, at the theater, tearing them, giving back the ragged stubs, you might take care to touch that palm brush your fingertips along the lifeline's cr...
As part of an effort to prod college seniors to get tetanus shots, a group of students was given a lecture meant to educate them about the dangers of tetanus and the importance of getting inoculated against it. A large majority of those students repo...
Think of my Pleasure in Solitude, in comparison of my commerce with the world - there I am a child - there they do not know me not even my most intimate acquaintance - I give into their feelings as though I were refraining from irritating a little ch...
Dorothy Vallens: You think I'm crazy don't you? [pauses] Dorothy Vallens: I want you to stay. Don't hate me. Jeffrey Beaumont: I sure don't hate you. Dorothy Vallens: I'm not crazy. [pauses] Dorothy Vallens: I know the difference between right and wr...
Teasle: [Teasle is giving Rambo a lift] So where you heading? Rambo: Portland. Teasle: Portland is south! You said you were heading north. Rambo: You got some place I can eat around here? Teasle: Theres a diner about thirty miles up the highway. Ramb...
Old Bilbo: The first they heard was a noise like a hurricane coming down from the North. The pines on the mountain creaked and cracked in the hot, dry wind. It was a fire-drake from the North. Smaug had come! Such wanton death was dealt that day, for...
Alexander Andrews: Oh, er, do you mind if I ask you a question, frankly? Do you love my daughter? Peter Warne: Any guy that'd fall in love with your daughter ought to have his head examined. Alexander Andrews: Now that's an evasion! Peter Warne: She ...
Oddball: This engine's been modified by our mechanical genius here, Moriarty. Right? Moriarty: Whatever you say, babe. [giggles] Oddball: These engines are the fastest in any tanks in the European Theater of Operations, forwards or backwards. You see...
Sarah Pierce: I think I understand your feelings about this book. I used to have some problems with it, myself. When I read it in grad school, Madam Bovary just seemed like a fool. She marries the wrong man; makes one foolish mistake after another; b...
[Frodo wanders in the woods. Boromir comes up behind him, gathering wood] Boromir: None of us should wander alone, you least of all. Frodo? I know you suffer, I see it day by day. Are you sure you do not suffer needlessly? There are other ways, Frodo...
Sam Spade: If you kill me, how are you going get the bird? And if I know you can't afford to kill me, how are you going to scare me into giving it to you? Kasper Gutman: Well, sir, there are other means of persuasion besides killing and threatening t...
Young Noah: We can just finish out the summer and see what happens then. Young Allie: Please don't do this, you don't mean it. Oh why wait until the summer ends? Why don't you do it right now? [pushes Noah against car] Young Allie: Huh? C'mon. Do it!...
Luke Skywalker: So. You got your reward and you're just leaving, then? Han Solo: That's right, yeah. Got some old debts I gotta pay off with this stuff. Even if I didn't, you don't think I'd be fool enough to stick around here, do you? Why don't you ...
