It's Not Easy Being the Best Looking Man on the Planet
Stinky Carter can't help the way he looks and it's not easy. Maybe he talks so much because the person he's speaking to is usually gasping for air. He's so good looking birds sing barbershop harmony when he walks through the park.
He doesn't look for trouble, but he can't hide from it, as we learn in this collection of nine stories. Stinky's life changed for the better when he met Eddie. He repeats the tale with decreasing accuracy many times, but this is the only place to find out what really happened. "Stinky's Stolen Heart" doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know about Stinky, but, boy, was Eddie a mess!
The boys survive the challenge of meeting Stinky's parents and sister, an unpaid, nude model in "Stinky and the Allegorical Breasts." Eddie is distressed to learn that the toys he's collected for homeless children have been stolen in "Stinky and the Cold Toilet Confession." Their relationship survives a disastrous dinner ("Stinky's Best Worst Birthday"), a cottage stuffed to its quaint roof line with Stinky relatives ("It's Stinky at the Beach"), a cash drought at Stinky's new law / wealth management firm ("Stinky's Cash Floes") and a shocking visit from Stinky's gaga granny ("Stinky Secrets").
All Stinky Stories have a happy ending, but you might need a Kleenex before the end of "Eddie the Reluctant Celebrity."
Fortunately for those of us who don't crave substance or depth, the collection ends with the first "typical" Stinky Story, a madcap chase through five-gallon jars of mayonnaise and the seamy side of Chinatown in "Stinky News at Eleven."
Nine stories, nine happy endings: isn't that what we really need?
