not believe that the grandmother will always be there for them; she is afraid that she will leave them, just as their mother did when she died. One day, Agatha runs from the house in tears straight into traffic. In a flash, the grandmother pushes her to safety, only to be hit by the car herself. Agatha cries, but finds herself comforted by the grandmother, who is unscathed by the accident. The grandmother insists that she will never leave her and that not even death could separate them. Agatha realizes that the grandmother is the only one who can keep that promise and finally opens up to her. "The Tombling Day" (originally published in Shenandoah, Fall 1952) In a small town in Missouri, an unused graveyard will be emptied to later be part of a new road. The locals agreed to remove the old bones. An old woman exhumes her fiancé of youth and brings his coffin home for a final requiem. She is astonished to discover that her beloved remains exactly as he was buried 60 years ago: a jolly 23-year old man. The woman suddenly feels her old age oppressive, as she is unable to match her past beauty. "Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby's Is a Friend of Mine" (originally titled "Charlie is My Darling", first appeared in McCalls Magazine, January 1966) A man calling himself Charles Dickens arrives in a small, Mid-west American town and moves into the boarding house run by the mother of the narrator, a young boy. He proceeds to "write" the novels of Dickens, sometimes dictating them to the boy and sometimes with a pen and paper. To the boy, the man is an inspiration; to the town's adults, he is a fraud. "Heavy-Set" (originally published in Playboy Magazine, October 1964) An aloof 30-year old man still lives with his mother. His mother worries and cares for his well being, but there is something sinister about him, about exercising heavily each night, about dismissing most social activity invitations. "The Man in the Rorschach Shirt" (originally published in Playboy Magazine, October 1966) After retiring as a professional psychiatrist, a man decides to bring his expertise as an outdoor hobby. To this end, he wears shirts with Rorschach test themes while asking people around him what they see in his shirt. "Henry the Ninth" (originally titled "A Final Sceptre, a Lasting Crown", first appeared in