"I had a box of hymnals in the trunk of my car to deliver to Pastor Gregory James Coots of the Full Gospel Tabernacle, a church in Paradise. Paradise New York, that is. Paradise is a small town just north of Schenectady. I always disliked Schenectady... Mainly because it's hard to spell and it's off in a place you don't want to be in winter. Not that you'd enjoy being there in the summer either, but you do have to go there if you're on your way to Paradise. I sell bibles and hymnals to churches, and while I admit it's not much of a job, it's the only thing like a job I could find with the economy in the shape it is…"

Our annual cornucopia of StoryRhyme.com''s most popular stories, pages and searches: 2011 edition...

It is customary to do a year in review. First off, I will not enumerate the reasons why 2011 sucked. There's no need. And I really don't find it necessary to access the painful emotions brought about by the sorrows of the year. Not going to go there. This is my reflection, though, on some of the good things that happened in 2011 and my very recent -- as of December 29th, so it got in just under the wire -- good news...

On the final day of 2011, we take a quick peek at who's visiting StoryRhyme.com...

"The dolls lay in a disorganized heap in the dirty window of the thrift shop. They stared out at the pushcarts lining the snowy street outside. They didn’t know what to make of it.

"They had never been in a place like this before…"

The Professor picked up the small bottle at the end of the bench and looked at the brain inside. “It’s a very small brain, Igor...”

“Why, what’s so special about the Schatsky’s?”

“Sheila Schatsky is President of the Ladies-in-waiting Society that’s all. You want to get ahead, don’t you––you have to play nice with the Schatsky’s... What are you doing with that telephone book?”

“I have to call a plumber. Half the gargoyles on this side of the cathedral belfry are plugged up... Why do we have to go to the Schatsky’s anyway? Why can’t we stay home once in a while?”

“We have to keep up, Boris. I don’t want to have to polish candlesticks all my life...”

"Marcel Comeau is a superb portrait painter. He has the rare ability to capture the most fleeting of expressions, the subtlest of smiles and the evanescent qualities that reveal a man’s personality.

"He is painting a portrait of Mr. John Blank. Mr. Blank is president of a company that manufactures kitchen appliances that no one thinks of buying..."