Woppert

Short Stories About Loss, Friendship, and the Moments That Define Us

In Death and Other Life-Changing Events, the ordinary and the unexpected intersect in a series of moving, sharply observed stories. With warmth, wit, and unflinching honesty, these tales explore the fragile connections between people-and the moments that shape who we are.

• A middle-aged man and an 8-year-old boy become unlikely friends.
• Two sisters share memories and try to plan their mother’s funeral while an overbearing family member insists she knows what the deceased would have wanted.
• Backyard swimming pools, transistor radios, and apple pie around the picnic table-politics and unspoken family drama can appear just as quickly as a tornado in a heat wave.
• No matter how carefully the setting is chosen and how intricately everything is planned, a proposal can still be ruined by the wrong audience.
• While adults tiptoe around the delicate aspects of a murdered young man’s life, the children piece together a story of family conflict and hidden truths.
• Bronzed Adonises and Norse gods in Speedos. Two men bicker and banter about past escapades and evening plans, all while affirming the strength of their friendship.