Petey, a small boy, disappears from sight in front of a crowd of witnesses - a magic trick gone wrong or an act of malice? A teacher orders two boys outside to clean up a dog mess, but the principal has to step in. The boatman has a job to do, but whom does he serve? Marzy spent years on stage as the real Aunt Jemima, but that was a long time ago. When he is cleaning up his late father’s affairs, Donald is jarred by the recollection of the girl whose face he fell in love with when he was nine. Larry’s father hated the new traffic light at the corner down the road, but it was no deterrent to Larry and his first car. Three boys discover a cavity under a rock in their backyard woods, but is it just a cave? Hollis takes his aging father to visit the abandoned one-room school the old man attended when he was young, impulsive, and trying to impress a certain little girl. Two cousins go camping and barely escape the assaults of nature. Hollywood made a movie about his daring rescue of the drowning girl when they were young, but now they’re just an anonymous old couple clogging up the streets. Set mostly in quieter times and told with an ear for compassion and whimsy, these are tales to warm your mind.