Why the Dumb Have Hope

This humorous story tells of the brutalities of an imperfect family from the point of Calvin Gregory, who has had a full life at the age of eighty five. Calvin has been living in a nursing home, Orange Sunrise Village, for five years now at the expense of his eldest son, William. But when William takes his own life, there is nobody to pay for Calvin's assisted living. He is sent to live with his deceased youngest son's, George's, wife and five children. George's wife, whom has since remarried, lives in a low-income situation. Both her children, as well as herself and her husband, are very uneducated. Calvin, a former professor, is still quite sharp himself, though.

Calvin watches in awe from a far corner while his estranged relatives tear each other apart. Trixie's new husband is quick to raise his fists in an argument. Calvin's eldest grandchild, sixteen year old Jeremy, is experimenting with the same drugs that killed his father. And Trixie's youngest son is displaying signs of Autism.

Calvin realises he has a new duty in life, to give these less than perfect people what they need, hope.