To Love in the Past Tense And Other Stories

Imagine what happens when . . .

. . . a widow spots another woman, a stranger, putting flowers on her husband's grave.

. . . a boy genius climbs out his bedroom window to follow his cat to see where it goes at night.

. . . a lonely, depressed young woman encounters a silverback gorilla in her backyard at night.

. . . a joyful Dalmatian that bites forces a boy and his father to uncover family secrets.

. . . the Loma Prieta earthquake catapults a fading grandmother, documentary-making daughter, and rebellious granddaughter to Africa, where they can no longer ignore one another.

. . . an in-home cutlery sales pitch by a lovely young woman slices away years of deceit.


The short stories in To Love in the Past Tense offer some possible answers.

GAIL BOYER HAYES is co-author with her husband, Denis Hayes, of Cowed: The Hidden Impact of 93 Million Cows on America's Health, Economy, Politics, Culture, and Environment (Norton, 2015). She also wrote Solar Access Law (Ballinger, 1979) and Pulmonary Hypertension: A Patient's Survival Guide (editions one through three), and many articles and book reviews. She lives in Seattle, Washington.