Dogs, Cars, and Old Men

Fourteen-year-old Daryl is heartbroken when his grandfather dies. But the old man raised him to be strong, and he's ready to take on life without his loving guardian. When his alcoholic father-the last person his grandfather would want around-unexpectedly reappears, Daryl is forced to revise his plans...and open his heart.

This and the nine other stories in Dogs, Cars, and Old Men delve into the daily lives of their characters, exploring the mundane minutiae as well as the moments of tragedy and upheaval. Our lives and the people in them are a source of constant surprise, but nothing compares to the ways we sometimes surprise ourselves.

In the tradition of classic short-story authors like Flannery O'Conner, Ray Bradbury, and Mark Twain, author Richard Bustetter offers entertaining and enlightening stories that capture life's defining moments-a man haunted by the disastrous mistakes of his past, a ten-year-old girl responsible for her entire family, and a troubled office employee whose pranks grow more and more extreme.

Showing life as it is (rather than as it ought to be), the realist stories in Dogs, Cars, and Old Men capture the beauty of the universal in the everyday.