A collection of 13 short stories about African American life in the United States between 1992 and 2007. There are some characters that reoccur in different stories, which allows for more character development than is often possible in the short story genre. For me, though, the power was in the stories as free-standing works of their own. These are unsparing stories of people in unfair situations that they often do not fully understand but which the reader perceives through the dramatic irony that Hubbard creates so well. Read the first story, "The Flip Lady (1992)," and it will surprise you. If it has you intrigued, you'll want to keep reading up to and through the longest of the collection, "The Last Suspicious Holdout (2001)," to find out what's been going on in the Leon Moore Center for Creative Unity and Byrdie's Burgers.