Twilight Neighborhood

About the book

Welcome to the Neighborhood, a perfectly ordinary collection of residential streets tucked away in a medium-sized Oregon city. The houses are comfortable, the trees are beautiful, and the residents enjoy the simple pleasures of suburban life. Or at least they would, if their neighbors would stop doing things that require explanations, emergency services, or the occasional hazmat team.

Meet Bob and Tom, two inseparable friends whose elaborate practical jokes have become something of a local institution. There’s Felix, a kindhearted eccentric with questionable ideas about feeding stray animals; Paul and Denise, an increasingly exasperated couple whose German shepherd has survived considerably more than most dogs should; Mrs. Greeley, who knows everything about everyone; and Mr. Ralston, a retired mechanic whose patience for foolishness has long since expired.

And then there are the three Dicks, elderly gentlemen who operate KLOP, a community radio station where professional broadcasting standards are more of a philosophical suggestion than an actual practice.

Life in the Neighborhood has a way of getting out of hand. A small book exchange grows into a magnificent three-story tree library complete with an award-winning coffee shop. A newly installed speed bump becomes a memorial to a living resident. A simple birthday party turns into a canine catastrophe. Even a quiet afternoon can become an incident when Bob and Tom are feeling particularly affectionate toward their neighbors.

Watching over it all is an enigmatic gray cat whose remarkable ability to find food, shelter, and trouble may be the Neighborhood’s greatest unsolved mystery.

Twilight Neighborhood, by Hollis Wetherby, is a collection of interconnected humorous stories celebrating the peculiarities of human nature, the absurdities of everyday life, and the unexpected bonds that form between people who share a few quiet streets.

Written with warmth, dry wit, and an affection for wonderfully flawed people, these stories invite readers into a place where ridiculous things happen, common sense is frequently outnumbered, and even the most spectacular disasters somehow bring everyone a little closer together.

After a while, you’ll know these people as well as your own neighbors. And you’ll probably be very grateful they aren’t.