The Crane is a collection of eleven short stories about ordinary people who encounter in their ordinary lives, something unique, perplexing, and even daunting, which gives them a chance to find transcendence - the ability to bear their lives with some dignity and grace, at least in their own eyes. Here is the Prologue from The Crane: We are possessed by demons of our own creation. To exorcise them we must confront and make peace with them. We do this to our peril, but we must do it or be consumed by the greater demon of despair. To hope is to imagine there is a chance for the mind to find peace, free of demons. Your task is to sail your fragile craft of hope courageously into the distant safe harbor of deliverance. The journey itself is the cure, and you will not be alone. We meet Jorge, an abandoned pet monkey in an Amazonian jungle who befriends a down-and-out scientist. Vera, a nurse who on her own time, spends evenings doling out pain to those who crave it. Howie, a virgin whose love for a beautiful woman is transformed into an obsession with a bird. Lucy, a free-living seductress whose chaotic relationship with four brothers ends in a testament to unconventional love. Miriam, a lawyer who confronts her abusive father on his deathbed. Brake, a black bus driver who bequeaths a mysterious legacy to a white bus driver. Luther, a hunter with a dark persona and a lonely wife whose devotion is wracked with doubt. Roslyn, a sensuous Jewish widow who finds late love with a Chinese art dealer. JT, an android servant whose mission is to become human. Mac, a barnstorming pilot who has an epiphany while treating a teenage girl to a ride on his rickety biplane. Finally, The Crane, a wounded old bird who attains a mystic sense of freedom on a cold mountain on his last migration to warmer climes.