"I thought I'd learned what I was put here on earth to learn," says the narrator of "Nothing Sad, Once You Look at It," "but if I had, I'd have understood I could live to be ninety and someone would come down the pike and pull the rug out from under me." In Our Secret's Out, Darrell Spencer will introduce you to a marvelous assortment of quirky characters as they face threats to their safety or sanity and endure life's outrageous surprises.

From Las Vegas casinos to the boomtowns of Utah and Nevada, these stories tell about lust, about living together, about the perils of everyday life. A convenience store clerk confronts a deranged customer and a far more frightening girlfriend in "Let Me Tell You What Ward DiPino Tells Me at Work." In the fast-paced, powerful "Union Business," union boss Dick Handy teaches his son what women really want, and a son learns a profound lesson on his own: even fathers lie.

A young golf whiz winds up working at Juvenile Hall after failing to con his wealthy Uncle Beaner into funding his preparation for the pro circuit in "Song and Dance." A man and his dog-both wearing jockey shorts-turn the tables on the trick-or-treaters in the hilarious "Halloween." A religious zealot's gift of eleven hundred dollars to a complete stranger reveals the perplexity of the world and an opportunity for personal renewal in "The Glue That Binds Us."

Although they live on the edge of loneliness-sometimes on the edge of terror-Spencer's characters barrel ahead, making the best of every situation. With relentlessly keen observation and energetic storytelling, Spencer demonstrates the humor and never-ending richness of contemporary life.