It is always "earthquake weather" in Amy Hempel's California, a landscape where everything can change without warning. Traditional resources—home, parents, lovers, friends, even willpower—are not dependable. And so the characters in these short, compelling stories have learned to depend on small triumphs of wit, irony, and spirit. A widow, surrounded by a small menagerie, comes to terms with her veterinarian husband's death; a young woman entertains her dying friend with trivia and reaffirms her own life; in the aftermath of an abortion, a woman compulsively knits a complete wardrobe for a friend's baby. Buffeted by rude shocks, thwarted by misconnections, the characters recognize that anything can finally become a reason to live. In a tub Tonight is a favor to Holly Celia is back Nashville gone to ashes San Francisco In the cemetery where Al Jolson is buried Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep Going Pool night Three popes walk into a bar The man in Bogotá When it's human instead of when it's dog Why I'm here Breathing Jesus Today will be a quiet day