“Hunters in the Snow”
Three men go hunting. Frank and Kenny habitually act in ways that makes Tub the outsider and, indeed, the story opens with Kenny accidentally almost running over Tub with truck and then making victimizing him again with insult humor. This dynamic creates the dramatic tension that ultimately leads to a misunderstanding when Kenny shoots an old man’s dog and Tub—believing his life is in danger—shoots Kenny in the stomach. From this point, the balance of power shifts to Tub, but more significantly, the intimacy of friendship shifts to that between Tub and the third man. The rest of the story moves ironically toward its gruesome conclusion.
“Next Door”
This is the perfect story to hand over to a know-it-all friend who brags about knowing how every story ends fifteen minutes into it. Few readers will have guessed at the unexpected diversion this story takes. It is predominantly a tale of one couple in bed listening to the horror of a “domestic situation” going on with the neighbor couple. No matter how disturbing the eavesdropping becomes or could potential turn, however, the husband and wife merely listen rather acting to prevent what could possibly become a very bad thing. At the same time, they are watching an old movie on TV. Tell your friend that fact of ahead of time and bet that they still won’t guess the story’s ending.
“Passengers”
This is a strange tale of fascistic authoritarian control boiled down to the essential master/slave component of one relationship. Glen allows him to become entirely submissive to Martin, the kind of Ayn Rand-reading, Young Republican-type who stands in direct opposition to the wild, carefree hippie mentality of the other major character, Bonnie. Things take a serious turn toward Nazi-ville when Glen borrows Martin’s car, but violates his foundational rule against picking up hitchhikers. The Bonnie incident plays out, but both are mere passengers along for the ride in Martin’s world.
“Coming Atractions”
Jean is fifteen-going-on-thirty. Though just a kid, she already has a job working at the movie theater. Though already employed, she still gets childish kicks out of making prank phone calls. One night randomly dials a man named Mr. Love and sets about tricking him into thinking he’s a prize winner. The commingling of childishness and maturity with the prank phone call is merely the mechanism by which the story explores the theme of how such duality is not limited just to teenagers.
“Face to Face”
The two faces belong to Virginia and Robert. Both recently divorced, they are each making the first tentative steps toward connecting with another person in a romantic way. The equilibrium is not balanced, however. Robert has suffered the great trauma over the collapse of his marriage and proves too weak to overcome it and make the connection. Almost as if feeding up the energy seeping out of Robert, however, Virginia becomes stronger and seeks not just to endure, but thrive.
“Our Story Begins”
Charlie works as a busboy while he entertains ambitions of becoming a writer. Those ambitions are on the precipice of being rejected in the face of a reality that seems to overwhelm at all times. The story does not just turn on an epiphany, it is about the power of epiphany. A chance snatch of an overhead conversation one night leads Charlie to the revelation of how close he was to chucking. What makes the story special is that the epiphany comes before the it is made clear to the reader what it all really means.
“Sister”
The story begins with a young woman named Marty heading to the park to engage in some sexual gaming. As she gets closer, however, she recognizes that the other player in the game is a man who called himself Jack who once dumped her in a bar. Everything one knows about fiction points to this becoming a story where Marty either gets a small bit of revenge or—more likely—is humiliated once again. Turns out to be the latter, but surprisingly not in the way one expects. Not at all.
“Say Yes”
This is a short story—a very, very short story—that is really more of a fable. It is a fable because it comes with a moral at the end. The moral is directed exclusively toward husbands (or, really, any man who has been in a long-term relationship with a woman) and it is simply put: whenever the “she” in your life asks a question which you know she expects you to answer with a “yes” then no matter what the circumstances, do the right thing and say “yes.” The question at hand here follows a scene of slowly intensifying dramatic tension in which the wife remarks negatively upon the husband’s racism. That is all the backstory one needs to understand why when she then proceeds to casually inquire whether he would still have married her had she been black, there is just one and only one right answer. And it’s not the one he gives.
“The Rich Brother”
If “Say Yes” is a fable at heart, then “The Rich Brother” is a parable. A modern updating the story of Cain and Abel, it tells of two brothers who are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the dice rolled out by the hands of fate. Pete is materialistically successful and quite comfortable with that. Donald is a bit more spiritual and less dependent upon money for happiness, but still unhappy just the same. Pete arrives in his Mercedes to transport Donald back home after another failure. Things start off bad, but then become much worse when they pick up a hitchhiker who is really a con artist looking to bilk them out as much as he can. The divide between the two begins to grow and loom larger as it becomes more apparent that the trip is one in which Cain and Abel are about to become to come to those infamous final blows. Or will they?
