I suppose I shall be a maiden aunt forever! A slow, silent rise and a rather more rapid fall of her paltry, inadequate bosom accompanied this solemn thought of Miss Agatha Goodwin. For more than three years, since her elder sister Perpetua had married at last, Agatha had been known simply as Miss Goodwin. This signified that she, at twenty-nine, was the eldest unmarried daughter of her father, the village parson at Emberd...

Every year for quite a few years now, I've gone to the Swinging Sixties party at the Oldio-Goodio Restaurant and Dance Hall. They have other annual parties, like the Roaring Twenties and Flying Fifties, and of course, the Valentine's Day Ball, which I sometimes go to--but I never miss the Swinging Sixties. I don't have what it takes to imitate a hipster or any such thing. Last year I went as President Kennedy–a good costu...

Once upon a time, when I was quite young, I dreamed of love and marriage with a good girl. Beauty, sweetness, and kindness filled my dreams. It was painful to me because no good girls would love me, but I refused to give up hope until my parents' marriage crashed and burned. Tremors from the coming earthquake of my parents' disintegrating marriage were already beginning to shake and destroy my dreams, but I tried to ignor...