Seasons by author Gay Sizemore Sauer is a collection of poignant and wistful short stories and poems that explores the lives, loves, and quiet dignity of the elderly and infirm. In this work, this marginalized and forgotten segment of society finds its metaphor in the form of an incapacitated old woman whose mind is sharp but whose body is wanting. Short on physical stature, she makes up for it with quiet wisdom to spare. We follow her through a year of her life as she deals with memory, reminiscence, wheelchairs, and the infirmities of aging with dignity, humanity, and grace. Along the way author Sauer sprinkles in a tender poem to underscore the drama and complete the emotional moment. Written in masterful, poetic prose, Sauer has delivered a collection of short stories that pushes all the right buttons for fiction fans, while building multi-dimensional characters and flawless emotional moments that will keep any reader spell-bound. This is short fiction that ranks right up there with the best in the genre, and will surely please short story fans, or anyone who just loves good stories well told. Seasons is one page-turner best read with a hanky.

The old woman looked again at the patterns on the brick walkway. They had changed since her last glance because the sun had filtered its presence through different angles of growth. She considered the patterns, knowing that a force far beyond herself had produced them. It was the same force every year of her life that turned March into April. The force that produced a meadow full of flowers for her childish enjoyment. She was still a child at heart, never having lost her appreciation for the new life of April. It occurred to her that the famous poet was right. There was a cruelty in the month. It was symbolized by the flowers that faded, the chicks that lost their down, and the spirited girl who ceased to run and play in the freedom of the meadows. The past seem obscured by the power of the present. A more benign spirit, however, eventually prevailed. The laughter returned; the spirit, like spring itself, reawakened to the detailed memories of all the accumulated Aprils. With her memories safely secure, the old woman breathed deeply the fragrance of a new spring.

Born in Texas, Gay Sizemore Sauer, was a high school and college teacher and has worked with the elderly in many capacities. She and her husband of fifty-six years currently reside in Texas and together they share four children and eight grandchildren. Seasons is her first book.