The fictions are typical Keillor, bittersweet tales of ordinary folks that remind us that nobody is ordinary. The title story chronicles the marital adventures of Willa and Earl, Minnesota residents who are invaded by a reporter for People magazine named Blair Hague. Willa becomes a celebrity. She does the talk show circuit, sells movie and book rights about the horrors of married life, is a New York cocktail party sensation - and returns home to Earl and her small town. No apologies asked, none given.
Life resumes as before.
The other poems, opinions, stories, letters and whatnots in this collection ponder the meaning and nuance of yard sales, sneezes, Woodlawn Cemetery, the last surviving cigarette smokers, the solo sock, the old shower stall, the perils of celebrity, being nearsighted, growing up fundamentalist and traveling with teen-age children. And in these ''ordinary things,'' the grace of Garrison Keillor shines through. Boys and girls in their thirties who compose essays on the majestic sorrows of aging - give me a break. Wait until you're forty-six and then tell me about it. I'll be sixty then.