title: The Dance Man
author: Hayes, Stephen
description: Long-time bachelor, Mortimer Boozer has been drifting comfortably––perhaps too comfortably––through his aimless life in south Alabama. His time is spent working as little as possible, fishing and drinking. Mort needs a purpose in life, a loving wife and a relationship with the Almighty, whom he alternatively fears and ridicules. He and his sister, divorcee Weenie Boozer, move in with their elderly Aunt Magnolia Boozer Paxton. The oddly matched trio rumble around her antebellum home, sparring and spatting. While the dementia-laden aunt grows to dislike her oddball nephew, Weenie, the only responsible adult in the old home, struggles to care for the crusty aunt and hold things together. While fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, a terrifying storm, seemingly brought on by the punishing Hand of the Almighty, motivates Mort to attend the Ladies’ Bible Study. From Mort’s perspective, God was a no-show at the meeting, but someone else was present who would change his life. Further calamitous events, including two deaths and three unpredicted marriages, totally upend and rearrange the Boozer clan. Through it all, there is the ephemeral, mysterious presence of the Dance Man.