Important Things to Remember

1. Your name. Otherwise you won't have an easy answer when someone asks who you are.
2. Birthdays. Yours, your mother's, remembering a birthday shows that you care.
3. If you blew out the candle. Fire safety is very important, after all.
4. Where you hid the cookies. Because if you can't find them, you can't eat them.
5. Passwords. Because one day even the toaster might require a password.
6. Your schedule. Are you free next Tuesday, or was that when you were going to lunch with your best friend?
7. To eat and drink enough each day. Meals are important, as is staying hydrated.
8. To have fun. Because each day should bring at least one reason to smile.
9. To get enough sleep. Sleep is good. Exhaustion, not so good.
10. To say "I love you". Let those you care about know how you feel often, in both word and deed. Love is best when shared.

Memory-Keeper

In this village, everyone forgets what happened in their life at the end of each day.
Everyone, that is, except for me.
I am the memory-keeper: tasked with remembering all that has happened to every member of the village, and sharing that knowledge as deemed necessary by the council of elders.
A council whose memories are also kept by me.
The people have learned to track what they should do each day by leaving themselves a note the night before. For the most part this system works, if it weren't for one little detail.
The notes the find each morning have been forged.
What they do each day is controlled by an outside force.
And they don't even know it.
The villagers just go about their days, happily blind as to how they've been manipulated.
The poor fools.
As for me? Well, I'm not a part of the group that is pulling the strings.
I'm just the unfortunate soul who is immune to their mind wipe.
For years, I tried to get the other villagers to remember, to do something to reclaim their lives.
For they know that they've forgotten things, but don't recall enough to care about what has been forgotten.
But after a while, I gave up.
What was the point?
They always forgot about the rebellion by the end of the day, whenever I did manage to get someone to act.
So now I remind the villagers that I remember everything that has happened, and the council decides that no one needs to know their past.
Over and over, every day.
The same conversations, the same decisions.
I wish I could forget.

How Mermaids Spend Their Days

1. Collecting seashells. If you're a mermaid, seashells have many uses; as clothing, cookware, and storage, to name a few.
2. Harvesting seaweed. Because the best underwater meals are made with fresh seaweed, not those slimy strands you find in the market.
3. Talking to fish. And if they want a really fintastic conversation, they talk to the dolphins.
4. Watching ships. A great game mermaids play is called name that ship, where they have to identify a ship from underneath it.
5. Teasing the sirens. Mermaids and sirens do not get along, and often spend hours each day trying to best (or simply annoy) the other.
6. Drying their hair. Lounging on the beach, mermaids can be quite vain about whose hair looks best when dry.
7. Flirting with sailors. Mermaids enjoy flirting, and will often seek out sailors to practice on. But sometimes a mermaid will actually fall for one of these sailors, and be left pining beneath the ship whenever he goes ashore.
8. Caring for her skin. Because saltwater can wreck havoc on a mermaid's skin if she doesn't properly care for it. It's one of the cons of being partly human.
9. Practicing their singing. Because one day, the mermaids will beat the sirens ate the annual singing competition.
10. Exercising. Because it takes a lot of endurance to swim everywhere at a pace that makes getting out of the seabed each morning worth it.

The Thing about Time Travel

You know that tingling in your leg when it falls asleep? Imagine that, but everywhere.
That is what time travel feels like.
And the farther back you go, the longer that feeling lasts.
So a jump back to five minutes ago will leave you feeling like you've just experienced back acupuncture for those ten minutes.
Oh, and past you? Still here. Try not to interact, or time might explode.
We think.
Let's not find out.
So, what about if you go really far back, like say, to a year ago?
Enjoy a year of aches, as your future self.
If you are really, really dumb, you'll do what I did.
What did I do?
I messed up when imputing the time to jump back to, and ended up sometime back in the prehistoric.
So not only do I have dinosaurs trying to eat me, no way back to the present, and a constant feeling of pins and needles everywhere, but I also brought my favorite book.
I hope archaeologists enjoy finding a fossilized book that shouldn't have existed in this era, because I know the time traveler's board will be furious.

Potential Sewing Projects

1. A dress.
2. A pair of pants.
3. A stuffed animal.
4. A purse.
5. A backpack.
6. A dice pouch.
7. A pencil case.
8. A hat.
9. A jacket.
10. A pillow.

The Duel

"Once more!" The dragon growled, one taloned paw hovering above my head. With a sigh, I leaned against my sword and shook my head.
"The rules were best two out of three. We're already at ninety-two to fifteen, in my favor. Can I please just have the treasure and safe passage you promised?"
Letting out a puff of smoke the dragon gave another growl as he twisted his head to look at the scepter of Mis-so-muh, the fabled relic I'd been sent to retrieve.
No one had told me it was guarded by a dragon. Just as I'd conveniently forgotten to mention that I wasn't a knight from some far off kingdom seeking to do great deeds, but actually an apprentice stage magician.
And by apprentice, I meant that I took care of Mister Marvelous' tools and the equipment for our wagon.
So what made me think I could steal a costume that looked like a real knight's armor, a trick sword whose handle could make fake flowers sprout long the blade, and pass myself off as a hero in order to gain the reward for fonding the scepter?
Obviously, it was a girl.
My sister.
She's a famous adventurer. She gets all the cool stories to share at family dinners. She's always laughed at how I was content as a stage magician's apprentice.
But unlike my sister, who would have slain the dragon within five minutes of finding its cave, I panicked and instead challenged him to a duel of rock-paper-scissors.
And now the dragon is hooked on the game, and I will probably never get to leave.
"I will keep my oath, on one condition." The dragon turned back toward me, his outstretched paw moving to gently grasp the scepter.
"What condition?" I asked, hoping it would be something simple, and not threatening to my life. I'd leave the adventuring to my sister from now on.
"After you have delivered the scepter to those who desire it, you must return to compete in another of these bloodless duels." The dragon bared his teeth in a gesture I'd come to realize was a dragon's competitive grin.
I'd created a monster. And if I said no, the original monster would decide it was time to eat me.
"Sure," it was only because of my apprenticeship that my voice didn't shake, "we could go for best fifty-eight out of eighty-seven."

What to Eat with Fish

1. Rice.
2. Lemon custard.
3. A baked potato.
4. Cole slaw.
5. Fries (or chips, as they are also known).
6. Salad.
7. Broccoli.
8. Pasta.
9. Soup.
10. Crackers.

The Creature and the Monster

The water was still, reflecting the moonlight across the pond's small surface.
A bush quivered as something small darted out from beneath it toward the pond.
And in an instant, the night's silence was shattered by a haunting howl.
The creature darting toward the pond faltered at the sound, before hastening to move faster. All it needed to do was get to the water, and it would be safe.
But the smell of sulfur was getting stronger, and the pounding of pursuit was coupled with the hiss of smouldering plant life.
So close.
Hot breath on its tail, and a hungry growl that almost made the fleeing creature freeze in fright.
Faster, faster!
Smooth pebbles beneath its paws, chill from their position at the pond's edge.
Pain, pain, pain.
Rip free from the clenched jaws, even if it means sacrificing part of the creature's tail.
Barely a splash as it enters the water, tension finally easing now that the creature is safe in the pond's cool embrace.
Distorted growls as the monster of heat and flame paces along the now steaming pebbles, furious that its chosen prey managed to get away.
But the creature safe beneath the pond's water knows that this won't be the end. Eventually, it will need to leave the pond, and the monster will be waiting.
They've been at this hunt for centuries, after all. One day, the creature would be too slow, or the pond's water would fail to heal its injuries, or the monster would finally figure out how to destroy the pond.
But for now, the creature would enjoy its moment of safety.

What to do in Summer

1. Learn how to cook. What better time to experiment in the kitchen than when many people take vacations?
2. Go camping. Because there's too much snow to camp in the winter.
3. Read books. Maybe then your to read list will shrink a little.
4. Dance in the rain. Because a summer storm in a great waltzing partner.
5. Stargaze. A clear summer night out in the woods is lit by so many stars.
6. Sleep in. Because sometimes the best idea is to take an extended nap or two.
7. Watch a movie. Get the projector set up in the backyard and enjoy a summer night at the home drive-in.
8. Eat all the cookies. Because there's no need to share with the class during the summer.
9. Go swimming. Since it'll be refreshingly cool in the water.
10. Make new friends. Whenever you go, a new friend could be waiting to meet you.