A writer whose routine is disturbed by an enigmatic man who visits the mangrove swamp where she usually walks; the breakdown of a streetcar that leaves its passengers exposed in an unsafe area of San Diego; a routine operation that disrupts a couple's life; the unexpected discovery of a charred body inside a car; A doll that witnesses the tribulations of a family over different generations or the foreboding bond that exists between a mother and her daughter are part of the twenty-three stories that make up this book. They explore the behavior of