The Birthday Party
In "The Semplica Girl Diaries," the nameless protagonist wins a Scratch-Off lottery ticket. While his family is quite poor, and struggles to pay their credit card bills, he decides to spend the winnings on a birthday party for his daughter, Lilly. To surprise Lilly, the protagonist has his lawn landscaped while Lilly is at school. When she returns home, she discovers the new, beautiful, lawn full of her friends. Seeing this, "Lilly literally bursts into tears of happiness" (134). Lilly enjoys the party immensely, and the protagonist speaks of "waves of happy tears, hugs, right in front of friends" (134). It is a very moving image, and one that demonstrates how much the protagonist cares about his family.
The Wrestling Erection
In the story "Al Roosten," the titular protagonist stands on-stage at a charity auction. He notices that the presence of his rival, Larry Donfrey, draws far more attention from the crowd. Al Roosten wonders why this is the case, and concludes it is because Larry Donfrey is more attractive than he is. This realization prompts Al Roosten to remember a time in his life where he believed he was gay. He recalls a moment in during a high school wrestling match when "he was almost sure he'd popped a mild pre-bone when he found his face pressed against Tom Reed's hard abs" (93). While this erection leads him to believe that he might be gay, he realizes that "he sometimes popped a similar mild pre-bone when the cat sat on his groin" (93). It is a humorous image, but also one that demonstrates how insecure Al Roosten is.
The Empty Home
In "Home," the protagonist, Harris, visits his mother's house after returning from war. There, he discovers that his mother has a new boyfriend, Mikey, and that they are about to be evicted. When the landlord arrives to evict them, Harris begins to fight him. Later, the sheriff arrives and empties the home. In their final night in the house, Harris, his mother, and Mikey drag two mattresses back in the home. Harris notes that "the sheets on their mattress had grass stains on one edge and the pillows smelled like mud" (190). It is a bleak image, and one that demonstrates the hardships that many veterans face after returning from combat.
The TorchLightNight Affair
In "My Chilvaric Fiasco, the protagonist, Ted, watches his boss, Don, and coworker, Martha, engage in an extramarital affair at their annual staff party, which is called the TorchLightNight. Ted comments that "Don Murray flew past me, looking frazzled. Then I heard a sob" (203). He then sees Martha undressed and crying. Martha becomes worried and makes Ted promise not to tell her husband, Nate. It is a sad and confusing image, yet is integral to the plot of the story, for as the story concludes, Ted ends up telling everyone about what he saw at the TorchLightNight.
Robin
The story "Tenth of December," begins with a description of the character Robin. Saunders writes that "the pale boy with unfortunate Prince Valiant bangs and cublike mannerisms hulked to the closet and requisitioned Dad's white coat" (215). This image of Robin is very specific, yet accurately depicts his character. He is an awkward, bumbling boy, whose attempt to act like a valiant prince will nearly lead to him freezing to death in the story.
