From the author ofInner TubeandOdditorium, a book of strikingly original, convention-defying short storiesCardinal Numbersis a posthumous collection of brilliantly enigmatic short fiction by Hob Broun, written with the aid of a respirator when the author was paralyzed from the neck down. Witty and full of minimalist surprise, these stories flirt with fragment, fabulism, and collage. In ';Rosella, in Stages,' an old woman's experience is movingly charted through the voice of her writing in six different life stagesand in six pages, no less. ';Highspeed Linear Main Street,' a standout tale and an artistic credo of sorts, centers on a photographer's fixation on highway life, while the surreal ';Finding Florida' features a Che Guevara who becomes struck with longing for a librarian and receives some unwelcome news from a fortune teller.Powerfully felt as well as mordantly funny,Cardinal Numbersis a freshly singular contribution to the American short story.