Going Through the Change: Stories

Daugharty ( Dark of the Moon ) loosely links the 14 strong stories in this collection with frequent references to ``the change,'' or menopause. She doesn't profile stereotypical all-American mothers with college-age kids and libraries of self-help books, though; her characters invariably challenge conventional takes on the midlife crisis. Residents of south Georgia near the Okefenokee Swamp, Daugherty's principals include people of all ages: the 52-year-old woman who literally wrestles with an ``old cheerleader'' type at a bar (``You're No Angel Yourself''); a grandmotherly babysitter left in charge of an infant boy by neglectful parents (``Looking to Miss Sara''); a 45-year-old woman whose lesbianism so angers her 82-year-old father that he provokes a fistfight with her (``Nightshade''). More than a hint of gothic oddness pervades these tales, as in ``Dogs in a Pack,'' in which a single mother and her teenage daughters apprehend two would-be rapists at gunpoint, and ``Shorn Glory,'' in which a drunken man cuts the flaxen hair of angelic 10-year-old triplets--an action that implies threat but provides the formerly identical girls with individual looks. Elsewhere as well, Daugharty strongly suggests impending danger but veers from actual tragedy: a hitchhiker walks away from his backwoods kidnappers in the title story, and elderly protagonists tend to recover from the brink of heart attacks or strokes. Dramatic, even perverse buildups and often striking prose make these stories compelling; cautious conclusions leave them just shy of memorable. (Sept.)