Small Matters

<p>An excerpt from the short story <I>The Lemon Festival</I></p><I>The whole trip turns out to be fun though a flashback to</I> Leave it to Beaver <I>land. Whether history happened like a 50s sitcom hardly matters as I stand listening to the country twang of a good band--the beer garden to my left and a two-story giant Icee booth to my right. The Lemon Festival is in fact well-organized. Families with strollers are everywhere. Couples have come after church: women in their floral dresses men in their dark polyester slacks and dress shoes. The couples browse the booths and sip lemonade. Mothers in sun visors and matching flip-flops lather their children in sun screen. The children scream and pull away. A brigade of young men in construction yellow t-shirts Volunteer Ministers their t-shirts say work the crowd with religious brochures.</I><p>In <I>Small Matters</I> columnist Joe Woodward delivers a one-year slice of life in the Los Angeles suburbs with this appealing collection of stories about everyday people who struggle weep triumph and make a difference.</p>