Sasha Richards was glad this day was over. As the owner and sole-instructor at The Studio – Sasha Richards Pilates, she had put in a long day. She had taught two classes each of beginners, intermediates, and advanced, and in between classes, she had caught up on office work and billing. Her final task of the day, after the last of her students had left, was to run the big mop over the dark wood floors of the main room, clean the walls of mirrors at the front and sides of the room, straighten her reception area, and lock the front door. Just before she left, she gathered her laundry together; she always changed her workout clothes halfway through her day and took a quick shower, so she could feel fresh for her afternoon and evening classes.Getting into her vintage VW ‘Beetle,’ with its faded blue exterior, she quickly drove the five miles to the apartment she shared with her boyfriend Matthew. Sasha parked her car in the rear parking lot and climbed the stairs to the second-floor entr
“I don’t think it’s possible for a normal woman. A woman would have to have an unusually long neck; her spine would have to be abnormally flexible as well. What you probably saw was two young women with the same coloring and the same general build, strategically posed so you could only see the lower half of one girl and the upper half of the other.”“You’re probably right; but it was really kinky. Why don’t we try it now just to prove the point? You have a long neck, and I know you are really flexible. If you can’t do it or get really close, no one can.”After four glasses of wine, two with dinner and two more at the bar, her judgement was not what it normally would be.“OK, let’s try it; just don’t try to help me. I’ll know my breaking point, you won’t, and I don’t want to end up in a wheelchair.”She climbed onto their bed, laid on her back and, after a few deep breaths, put her arms together in front of her and curled herself up into a ball. With her elbows resting on the backs of
She allowed her anger to build until, after a few minutes, she exploded.“You fucking bastard. You think you’ve won; you think I can’t make it without you. I’ve got news for you; I will survive. In fact, I will thrive!Just like an over inflated balloon, it reaches a point where it can’t handle any more air, bursts, and very little remains. Sasha returned to her bedroom, prepared a bed for herself using her quilt folded in half and her pillow, stripped, and naked, crawled between the fold of the quilt, and reviewed her situation. All remnants of her anger had completed disappeared.‘At this point, I can’t afford to rent another apartment, and I won’t ever move in with anyone ever again. I don’t want to jeopardize my studio, but I have no choice, I’ll have to live in my office. I’ve already got a convertible sofa thanks to that yard sale we went to a year ago. I’ll have to move it behind my desk, so I can open it at night. I have a microwave, a refrigerator, and a coffee machine I can
It all started sometime around 1846. His fifth great grandfather on his father’s side of the family had fled the area around Mexico City to escape the political and social unrest that threatened to erupt into a full-scale shooting war with the United States. Taking his share of the family’s considerable wealth in gold, he resettled on land that the family owned north of the Rio Grande River, near the small town, which would eventually become Tucson, Arizona. Twelve years later that area, from the eastern border of California, across the future state of Arizona and part way across New Mexico, would be transferred from Mexico to the United States, in a transaction known as the Gadsden Purchase. With the stroke of a pen and the transfer of ten million dollars, the United States acquired a much-coveted railroad route around the mountains between the southeast and the Pacific Ocean and, almost overnight, tens of thousands of Mexican citizens became residents of the United States. His ances
“We are going to be spending the Christmas and New Year’s weeks at the house in Flagstaff. They are predicting a white Christmas this year. Your mother would really like it if you could join us. We are going to fly up there on the 22nd.”It was not asked as a question; it was more like an order.“Dad, I’ve got a lot of work on my desk. I have a bunch of lease renewals that I have to review, and we just received the contract on that parcel of land in Surprise that you want to buy. We are in the middle of preparing our application for a variance for the new shopping center on the Happy Valley Highway in Peoria. I can’t spend two weeks away from the office.”After a few minutes thinking about his dilemma, Rick responded.“I’ll work this weekend and long days next week; I should be able to drive up on Christmas Eve morning, spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve with you and mom and drive back New Year’s Day.”“Good, your mother will be pleased.”Miguel turned and returned to his office.For
The probable cause of the crash was “the pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over the mountains during an extremely bad weather event, which was a result of spatial disorientation.” Your father was not qualified to fly his plane by “instruments only.” From interviews of various personnel at the airport we have determined that for whatever reason your father was over an hour behind his anticipated takeoff time. He was using a report of the anticipated weather conditions in the Flagstaff area that was not current. The mechanics report showed that the plane was fully fueled and in good shape prior to takeoff. We will never be able to determine if the crash was due to a mechanical problem, there was just not enough left.”“Thank you, Mr. Manning, for all your help; it was the result of a lack of proper judgement by my father. He was a very stubborn man once he set his mind on a course of action.”Rick walked over to the wall of windows that faced the back
His unintended sexual innuendo was not lost on Sasha; she just chose to ignore it for now.They entered the building, walked through the waiting room, and crossed the large room to the far corner. As he walked, Rick could not help looking at the large, mirrored wall. He recalled that a dance studio had previously rented this space and that Sasha had elected to keep the two walls of mirrors. It made the space appear to be a whole lot bigger than it actually was. He especially liked the fact that he could watch Sasha from two different angles as she glided across the floor.After studying the instruction manual, Rick looked up at Sasha saying, “You see this KD at the end of the item number on the packing slip. That stands for Knocked Down, meaning the unit comes in pieces and requires assembly. That being said, I don’t think this should be too difficult as long as they have given you all the pieces. What are they for? I thought Pilates was just a form of yoga type moves, done on a mat?”
For the next four days he could never quite get her off his mind. Finally Saturday came. In the morning, after he took a shower and dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a company golf shirt, he planned out how he wanted to handle this. He would get to her studio about ten minutes after three o’clock; that would assure that she would be alone. He didn’t want to arrive too early: he didn’t want to appear overanxious to see her.He would also bring an extra set of the tools he would need, just in case she wanted to help him. Hopefully, the whole job would only take two or three hours to complete. At that point, he would invite her to have dinner with him. If she agreed, they would have a pleasant casual dinner, and he would allow her to pay the bill; if not, he would charge her about forty dollars for his labor, either way he thought she was getting a fair price.Rick arrived at ten minutes after three, retrieved his toolbox from behind the driver’s seat of his truck, and walked to her b