Rarities About Town

"But Babies Are Just So Cute!" is a touching story of how human beings react to babies. All babies. Especially in this intense, perhaps humorous, short story. In "Mouth Watering," an SF short story, when Lisa Reddich stops by a small café for a plate of French fries, she's looking for a mouth-watering experience. What she finds is considerably more than she bargained for. Then again, she's considerably more than we bargained for. In "Normal Louisiana Ladies Club," when Marie LeBleaux, a Louisiana novelist, has to do strange research, she also tries to make it a boon for the community. She comes to learn that her acquaintances in the Normal Louisiana Ladies Club believe the community needs to be improved in other, more drastic ways. In "Respect," an unidentified good guy (goodfella?) goes in to see a bad boy on Mother's Day. Primarily to pay him a compliment. Come along on the ride and be glad you have respect. Finally, in "The Passing of Rosario," a humorous, intense short story, the adult child of a woman who recently passed leads you through a humorous, sometimes irreverent look at her life and the impact she had on the other residents, males and females, of the village. In the second half of this collection, "The Old Jenkins Place" is an odd compound on the outskirts of a small, religious community. Very fitting for all sorts of rituals. In "Paper Hearts," a story reminiscent of Hemingway's work, a waiter works his way through a shift at an all-night café. On the table in the back booth he finds a pair of paper hearts. But when exactly did he find them? In "Finding Harold," Mavis sets out to find her husband, who's been gone longer than she thinks he should. Who can blame Harold for wanting to disappear? But she finds him. Boy does she find him. In "Ca-racked!" what happens when one guy is so taken with the scenery that he decides when he dies he wants to become part of it? And what happen if he gets so depressed he decides he'd like to become part of it now? Can a lack of Mexican food really cause depression? And in "Family," well there are families, and there are families, and family members come in all kinds. Some are good to talk with, some to hang out with, and some will kill you. Warning: The characters in this story use strong language.