Wild Oats

Morsi's ( Garters ) down-home touch lends charm to her fairly ordinary story of small-town love. By giving her central characters a dash of sweet innocence, she even compensates for her less successful attempts to endow supporting characters with caustic wit. In the eight years since Cora Briggs divorced Luther, only son of the town matriarch, Maimie Briggs, Cora has largely been shunned by the folks of Dead Dog, Oklahoma Territory. So Cora is astonished when Jedwin Sparrow, the town's undertaker, comes calling--until he states his purpose: he hopes to obtain her favors in return for a ``modest stipend.'' Cora indignantly advises Jedwin that women want romance, not propositions, but she cannot bring herself to dismiss the attractive young man completely. More enthusiastic than shrewd, Jedwin launches a seduction that ultimately heightens local interest in Cora while drawing the two of them into a relationship much deeper than the one he originally envisioned. Cora resolves to protect Jedwin from becoming a social outcast like herself. But he rejects protection, and a skeleton is about to emerge from Maimie Briggs's family closet. (Sept.)