Puppy by Richard Ford

This is a story about a high profile lawyer who is out of town quite a bit who is married to an AIDS activist. Someone leaves a puppy inside their gate one day.
"Early this past spring someone left a puppy inside the back gate of our house, and then never came back to get it."
The puppy is solid white, solid black.
The wife is insistent on taking it to the pound. The husband is naive and thinks someone will come looking for it. This story is about racial segregation that still exists in the South (New Orleans)
They have circumstantial evidence that the dog came from some street kids.
This is a story for all dog lovers.

A House on the Plains by E.L. Doctorow

This book has a weird plot to it, but that is also irresistible.
Mama, aka "Aunt Dora", who is pretending to be her "dead" brother's widow, and Horace leave the rundown end of Chicago for a house in the country: La Villa, IL. Mama entices Fannie a cook, three children, and a help, Bent, to help her out. Men are enticed to invest in her acreage. The plot thickens when one man shows up who is a brother to an investor who goes missing. Everyone is an accessory to Mama's plot. This story involves heads being chopped off, Bent getting drunk, the mansion being filled with kerosene, and Bent waking up to find his arms wrapped around a kerosene can. This story definitely has a different ending...

Along the Frontage Road by Michael Chabon

A father and son are in search of a pumpkin. They get to a roadside pumpkin patch where they pull up in the car and see another car there with the driver door open. A little boy (the same age as the son) is in the passenger side and the father is not in sight. -- He is dealing drugs inside. This story is a juxtaposition of the "best" and "worst" father figures. Nicky - the good dad's son picks a small red pumpkin because he doesn't want it cut up. His dad tells him to pick a better one.
"Then he went back again into the world of pumpkins, looking for the one that would best suit his unknown purposes."
This story, like so many other good ones, goes beyond the plot to expound a moral through a story.

Digging by Beth Lordan

Beth Lordan does one of the best jobs I have seen in capturing the essence of the narrative. The flow of the language pulls the reader along at a quick pace. There are several stories intertwined within this short story which jump from the present to future years ahead. The main crux of the story is the dual stories told of people whose lives converge in the end. A brilliantly written piece.

Zilkowski's Theorem by Karl Iagnemma

This is a story of integrity. John Henderson was past boyfriend to Marya. The new boyfriend is Miklos Czogloz. The interesting thing is that Miklos and John have been professors and intellectual friends/rivals for years. Miklos confronts John about Marya who has turned fanatically religious. This absolutely drives Miklos crazy. Also, John had written her thesis for her - thus allowing her to get a PhD --Now since she has turned religious she is feeling guilty. If she rats, it will affect both Miklos as well as John. Both men would probably be viewed as aiding her and lose their positions. You'll have to read this one to find out the ending...

The Rug by Meg Mullins

This is a story about coveting. Ushman, a rug salesman covets money. His wife, Farak, covets another man with whom she wants to have babies. Mrs. Roberts, one of Ushman's clients, covets Ushman and his rugs. One day Ushman picks up a rug for a man so that he can inspect it before purchasing it. While going back to pay the man, Ushman discovers that the man has died. He doesn't tell anyone about the rug and he decides to keep it and not pay his family what he owes for the rug. Mrs. Roberts tries to seduce Ushman. She is constantly trying to get his best and newest rugs. Meanwhile, his wife, Farak, distances herself. She is still living in their homeland while he earns money and sends it to her. He calls her to ask what she needs and she tells him she is pregnant. Ushman is now in a bind: If he sells the new rug (the one he stole from the dead man) to Mrs. Roberts and sends the money to Farak she will not take care of his sick mother and run off with the other man. If his mom dies she will still probably run off as well. While Farak is on the phone with Ushman, she hangs up on him. He takes the rug to the trash. (a very expensive rug at that) Mrs. Roberts goes back to Ushman for the rug which he tells her he doesn't have anymore. (she has an disabled husband at home) Ushman asks her what she wants knowing that she doesn't really want any of his rugs but him. He lies down on a rug, and she lies down next to him (not touching) Ushman looks out the window and sees people he wishes his life were like. Presumably, there are people who stare in the window wishing they could trade places with Ushman and Mrs. Roberts.
I think this is one of the best stories from 2002. It is written very well and gives us a glimpse into the world of immigrants as well as what people really want.

Nachman from Los Angeles by Leonard Michaels

The story revolves around three men: Norbert who is a schemer, Nachman who supposedly writes, and Ali who is a prince. Ali needs a paper written so Norbert directs him to Nachman who never writes the paper but blames the post office for never mailing it for him. The last line of this comical story gives one a glimpse into the mind of the author:
"he [Nachman] remembered the supervisor who looked at him suspiciously and asked with a skeptical tone, 'You're sure you mailed it?' Nachman wasn't sure, but then he hardly even remembered having written the paper, not one word."

Watermelon Days by Tom McNeal

If you think that as a mother you don't measure up to what you think is acceptable as a mother, read this story to see what a real terrible mom is like.
Doreen Sullivan lives in Philly and has a friend who writes a letter to her telling her she is in Yankton, South Dakota. She informs Doreen that the town is full of men and that she should join her. Three weeks later Doreen is working for the radio station WBDY in Yankton. She meets and marries Monty Longbaugh, a cowboy balladeer. In time Doreen becomes pregnant. She gets to the point where she feels that she cannot cook or clean and dumps these responsibilities on Monty. During this time there is a terrible drought. Doreen and Monty hire a nurse to help out around the house after the baby is born. A storm comes up and the nurse goes to shut the windows. "A moment later Doreen became again aware of the dim, stretched-out cries of a baby." The nurse said, "It's a funny storm. Edna Arlene don't like it."
"Edna Arlene?"
"Your baby, Mr. Longbaugh said that was her name, after his deceased mother." (Doreen had no say in naming the baby)
Ok, it might be a good indication of what kind of mother you are whether or not you know your child's name.
This story is about rushing into motherhood thinking that it is just a rite of passage that any woman can be ready for. The story revolves around the relationship (or lack thereof) between Doreen and Edna Arlene. Edna has a lisp that Doreen says that Monte imitates her lisp on the radio and everyone laughs (at Edna).
Hope that you enjoy Tom McNeal's story Watermelon Days.

Surrounded by Sleep by Akhil Sharma

Ajay is surrounded by grief after his brother, Aman, dives into a swimming pool (when it isn't full of water) and is in a coma. Ajay seems that his prayers go unanswered or are in vain: He felt like "trying to move a sheet of blank paper from one end of a table to the other end by blinking so fast that you started a breeze." This is a fabulous story of loss and grief, but also of hope and the power of prayer.