The Last Noel

After two stints in rehab and an unexcused AWOL, his bosses intend to bury Zabrisky. In the end it is the people he had jailed who come to his rescue. 

It is Christmas and Zabrisky is one week short of qualifying for his 20-year pension. He is told that if he can stay sober and out of trouble for his last week he can retire with full benefits as an officer of the Parole Authority. But they had stacked the deck. For his final week he is re-assigned to The Avenue, the meanest neighborhood in the city, a place that would trigger a teetotler. Failure is certain. But his bosses have forgotten that The Avenue is where he started. It is where he had demonstrated his pre-burnout magic. More than a few ex-cons down there remember what he had done for them.

Little Saigon

Duc Lam knows that the only way he can save his family is to take them home—back to Viet Nam. But his parole officer says this is impossible. He has to remain in Honolulu, get a job, live within the conditions of his release or go back to prison. The DEA wants him to become an informant, or back in prison. The members of the Ah Moy, the gang he had co-founded, want him back in their fold or dead.

Cooperating Individual

All her life Liberty Watkins had dreamed of becoming a San Francisco police officer. She managed to stay out of trouble and scores well on the entry test, but she is a Tenderloin girl. Her parents and all of her friends have serious criminal records. It looks as if the best offer she is going to get is as an informant for a questionable narcotics detective. He wants her to rat out the friends who have always protected her.

 The Big Rock Candy Mountain

Morris Spoon is the embittered sheriff of Tumalo Falls, a dying timber town deep in the Cascade Range. Billy Lang is a train-riding hobo who makes the mistake of jumping off the freight as it enters the town. He only wants to buy a warm meal for his ailing dog then move on. Morris arrests Billy on suspicion of breaking into the Mayor’s car. 

Morris and Billy are natural enemies. Each becomes the target of the other’s anger. Each is mired in his own grief until circumstances permit them to recognize their shared sorrow.