Truckstop and Other Lake Wobegon Stories

Small town Minnesota is much like small town Iowa, only the mosquitoes are bigger and the winters are colder. Therefore, my having grown up in small town Iowa gives me the background to appreciate these stories of life in what can be described as a farming village. The world revolves around the seasons, what you are planting and how well things are growing. People develop their peculiar ways over decades until it reaches the point that it is the only way to do things. This book contains six short stories that are chronicles of this class of events, with the last one being hysterical. With the title "Homecoming" it is the day of the homecoming parade. Carl, the father of the beautiful homecoming queen Carla has had to spend the day checking out the septic system of his parents. When he starts digging he discovers that the septic tank is in fact a 1937 Chevy Coupe and the collapsed roof has led to the backed-up toilet. His only alternative is to dig up the Chevy and haul it to the dump. Using phrases like "Hauling away thirty years of family history?", Keillor describes in excellent detail how Carl somehow ends up part of the homecoming parade and make it the most memorable one in the history of the town. These stories are located in Minnesota but could easily be translocated to most small towns in the farming areas of America. There is a charm to these stories because so many of the plot concepts are universal truths.