This book contains four short stories and excerpts from a novel. The theme central to each story is the transition from childhood to adulthood. Each of the short stories, with nostalgic undertones, juxtaposes the innocence of childhood with the challenging emotions and attitudes that sometimes overcome grown-ups.Each of these short stories, with nostalgic undertones, juxtaposes the innocence of childhood with the challenging emotions and attitudes that sometimes overcome grown-ups after life has chipped away at their views, their hopes and their expectations. In Beyond the Periphery, an intelligent, socially conscious, affluent college kid struggles to confront his fear of someone who is different from him. As he attempts to meet this challenge, he encounters a lesson in life from an unlikely source. When Angels Speak is the story of a middle-aged man who is set in his ways and whose social encounter with two little boys leads him to a new perspective on his life. In A Gift From Grandma, an adolescent’s imminent coming of age is shaped by his ambivalent feelings towards his grandmother. The Guardian Angel is the story of a troubled teenager and the events that conspire to bring new meaning to his life. The book ends with a preview of the novel In the Twilight of the Moon.