{"product_id":"2940012608901","title":"El Loro Es Verde (The Parrot is Green)","description":"This diverse collection of fun and offbeat short stories places real people in situations which provoke unpredictable and often humorous responses to life’s absurdities.  As a result, Mr. Scheer’s characters are full of surprises, often doing the unexpected. While one character uses a glass eye in the most unimaginable way possible and another refuses an operation because he is convinced the doctors are wrong, a third emits canine howls as cats are purring.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book features Mr. Scheer’s prize winning title story, “El Loro Es Verde.”  The story catalogs a man’s repeated attempts to find a situation where he can relive a past moment of glory achieved decades earlier by his perfect pronunciation of a single phrase in his high school Spanish class. The character’s persistent efforts to recreate this important, yet laughable “parrot moment” reflect his arrogance in believing that his inept attempts to shape his own destiny are even possible.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The Diagnosis,” another of Mr. Scheer’s short stories in this collection appeared in the late Tim Russert’s anthology, \"Wisdom of Our Fathers,\" published by Random House. “The Diagnosis” received high praise on four major television news and talk shows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne journalist's reaction:\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“I guess maybe my favorite story in the book (\"Wisdom of Our Fathers\") is “The Diagnosis.”  It makes you laugh out loud and cry out loud.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAnother journalist concluded, “It’s the small moments that make the big difference.” This is the writing style that Mr. Scheer brings to the reader. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMr. Scheer’s unique insights into everyday people allow the reader to poke fun at his characters, but more importantly at ourselves, stripping away our defenses and exposing our weaknesses for all to see.  Mr. Scheer’s ability to craft comic exchanges among his characters and employ engrossing plots that contain surprising tidbits underscores his skill as a fiction writer of note.  His stories prompt the reader to close the book with a smile on his face and a fullness of heart. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAuthor Don Scheer has selected six quotations from his favorite stories for this collection as follows:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Diagnosis “… If I can’t make love to your mother anymore, I don’t want to live.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWho Stole My Cane? “…When you’re deaf, life goes on unchanged … What are you going to miss, that Mrs. Krebs has a new dental implant?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Music Man …“While Marian was purring and meowing and Luigi was purring and Boccherini was meowing, Larry felt so good that his manhood was no longer threatened – and because he was a dog person, he began to howl out of relief and joy.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEl Loro Es Verde “…he often thought of kisses that should have been taken and loves that were never realized, of hugs not given and conversations never spoken.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSeeing Eye to Eye … “Dr. Gruen sped through his crowded waiting room screaming, “It’s an eyeball.  Help me, God.  It’s an eyeball!”  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePlatnikoff and the Canary: A Love Story “… the moment one zeros in on anything, even if it’s as inconsequential as a blade of grass or a canary, that thing can become an indescribably magnificent universe – mysterious and wondrous.  It can become an entire life.”","brand":"GA Brown, LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069603889392,"sku":"2940012608901","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012608901_p0.jpg?v=1763570552","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012608901","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}