Grass Fires: Stories

In his first short story collection, novelist and poet Gerber chronicles in perfect detail small-town Michigan life. ""Yard Sale'' introduces an ominous tone of sadness and dissonance: while his wife conducts a tag sale on the front lawn, a country doctor tries to accept the fact that he was unable to save his daughter's friend from death. In ``Home,'' a grown-up son is puzzled by his mother's increasing eccentricities, and he humors her by agreeing to seek out her long-dead mother and ask if she needs an extra sweater. In ``Hardball,'' a young man has a brief pitching career with the Detroit Tigers, and his popularity wears out quickly when he returns home. The author endows his characters with pride and humility, and they seem to rise to difficult occasions. Sure-footed and thought-provoking, the stories are, however, much too brief and end abruptly, leaving the reader dangling. (September)