This is the first sentence of this story. It's the second sentence. This is the title of this story, which we find several times in the story itself. This sentence calls into question the intrinsic value of the first two sentences. This sentence is intended to inform you, in case you haven't already realized, that this is a self-referential story, that is, a story containing sentences that refer to their own structure and function. This is a sentence that ends the first paragraph. This is the first sentence of a new paragraph in a self-referential story. This sentence introduces you to the protagonist of the story, a young boy named Billy. This sentence tells you that Billy is blond, blue-eyed, American and twelve years old and that he strangles his mother. This phrase comments on the awkward nature of the self-referential narrative form while recognizing the strange, playful detachment it bestows on the writer. As if to illustrate the point of the last sentence, this sentence reminds us, without a trace of facetiousness, that children are a precious gift from God and that the world is better when endowed with the unique joys and delights that they bring him. This phrase describes Billy's mother's bulging eyes and protruding tongue and refers to the unpleasant choking and gagging noises she makes. This sentence makes the observation that we live in uncertain and difficult times, and that relationships, even seemingly deep and permanent, tend to break down. Introduces, in this paragraph, the device of sentence fragments. A sentence fragment. Another. Good device. Will be used later. This is actually the last sentence of the story but has been placed here in the middle of the paper......so this sentence gently and without a trace of condescension reminds us that we are indeed living in difficult and uncertain times and, in general, people just aren't nice enough to each other, and maybe we, whether sensitive human beings or sensitive phrases, should just try harder . I mean, free will exists, there must be, and this sentence is proof! Neither this sentence nor you, the reader, are completely helpless in the face of all the merciless forces at work in the universe. We should stand firm, face the facts, take Mother Nature by the throat and try harder. Stronger. Harder, harder. Sorry. This is the title of this story, which is also found several times in the story itself. This is the last sentence of the story. This is the last sentence of the story. This is the last sentence of the story. It is. Sorry.