This collection of short stories is a study in varying degrees of isolation. I've drawn characters into moments of significant dynamism, when their relationships with the world around them are changing. These changes are often catalyzed by some external event, or chain of events, and my characters respond to these changes by constructing solitary hiding places enabling them to buffer themselves from the world. Bertha, of "Food and Shelter," hides beneath her dining room table. Gloria, of "Collections," hides inside too-tight suits. James, of "Climbing to the Roof," hides at a buffet, cultivating a relationship with food. I've attempted to unravel the particular sets of logic that drive my characters, and travel with them as they vacillate, attempting to weave their interior lives into relationships with other people.