Thanks for the feedback everyone - I had actually intended to write an actual story with a plot and everything, with the flashback scenes just being a small introductory part of the overall story.
I guess I just didn't realize that when you put your thoughts on paper...they tend to take up a ton of room. The result was a few hours spent and none of the major points of the story that I had envisioned touched on. Oh well.
Thanks for the blue arrow tip - I didn't know about that.
Also, I have to agree with Aria's comments about the disjunction between the shifts between past and present...wasn't really sure how to handle that. The double asterisk lines sound promising though.
