I.
His bright brown eyes stared at the smoke rising from the bonfire in the middle of the spacious, newly-mowed backyard shadowed by an old tall mighty oak tree which lush emerald-green leaves indulged in the warmth of the early morning sun. The silence in the place was broken only by the soft shy rustle of the leaves blown by an equally shy breeze, the chirping of a bird or two, and the crackle of the flames as it consumed the things that he had once held dear—and once had held him dear.
