Waiting for the Fireworks: Selected Stories

The short stories in this first collection by a man in his 80s are comforting and accessible, so much so that they occasionally slip into the banal. Their small-town setting is authentic, but the antics of the author's young country boys feel very familiar. A boy waiting expectantly to set off fireworks glimpses a neighbor girl naked in the bathtub--a seminal moment that overshadows any thoughts of fireworks; a man recalls Buck, his girlfriend when he was 11, who could spit through a space between her front teeth and was ``beginning to show her biscuits.'' The stories about experiences later in life are richer. One older man who has been instructed by his doctor to keep a journal writes a wonderful stream-of-consciousness recap of his life, including ``My father had an affair with the organist at St. Paul's. My mother had an affair with the doctor who brought me into the world. My wife had an affair with her father's attorney. I had an affair with my wife's cousin.'' One story, in which a man recalls a good friend and lover who has recently died, shows Sage's prose to its best advantage; it is tender and moving but still manages to cleanly sidestep the sentimental. (Oct.)