Richard Nochimson

Huidekoper Cat, and Other Tales Richard Nochimson

Although the stories in this book seek to recapture an era--the 1960s and 1970s, with a brief excursion into the 80s--these seven stories will be meaningful to readers of all ages because they explore one timeless theme: how we relate to each other. And who isn't struggling with that? Essentially realistic, with occasional departures into the satiric and even the surreal, each of the seven stories stands by itself. But they connect with each other because they share themes and because major characters in one story show up as minor characters in other stories. In "The Owner," the second story in the book, a young man tries to figure out if he's too interested in sex. In "Two Sisters," the fifth story, it's Watergate time in Washington, D. C., and a young woman is sure that the President of the United States is a crook--but doesn't quite understand her own life. In "Inez," the fourth story, a man may lose his girlfriend when he appoints himself the protector of a beautiful young woman who is being stalked by a predator. In "One Year's Correspondence," the third story, two women and two guys get into an emotional and political mashup--1960s style. In "She Knew What She Wanted," the final story, a young woman spends decades trying to find herself after the childhood loss of her twin brother. In "The Jellyby Man," the sixth story, a young college professor is troubled when a senior colleague periodically appears from nowhere to recite snatches of poetry and to offer jellybeans. In "Huidekoper Cat," the opening story, a young couple taking a late-night walk with friends comes upon a blond kitten with a secret agenda: to bring the woman and man closer to their friends--and to each other.