The worry box -- Sighting-in: the McManus method -- The big fish -- The farm -- Now you see me, now you don't -- the blundered buss -- Chukar madness -- Cubs -- The Grogan look -- The secret of Goosey Smith's success -- Easy Ed -- You can see by my outfit -- Forget desire -- The good Samaritan strikes again -- Ah, sweet poverty! -- My unsolved mystery -- Bring me one Oscar, hold the sarcasm -- The flashlight man -- The fly -- Mean gifts -- Snake -- Score one for the pinky -- The Kelly irregulars learn to cry -- Rancid Crabtree and the demon bat.

In this, his eighth and funniest collection, we meet many Pat McManuses - most unknown to man or beast. The first is Pat the PR executive (his firm specializes in stretching a truth or two), whose chief responsibility is "to make two half-truths out of a whole truth." Pat gets so stressed out at work that his therapist persuades him to invent a fantasy farm to relieve the pressure. All is well until farming begins to take its toll - the dream-time chores are just too. Hard for Pat. Besides, PR pays well and there's no heavy lifting. Another Pat is a Good Samaritan who knows enough about emergencies to take his time getting to them ("who knows, this could allow some take-charge guy time to show up"). When Pat's first kiss turns into a scientific experiment instead of another example of adolescent lust, we have the hilarious "Blundered Buss." It should come as no surprise that the author has developed a new technique for sighting-in a. Rifle: The McManus Method, which is based on exhaustive research. "Well, not exactly exhaustive," Pat admits, "but it certainly was tiring." A facetious send-up of Ernest Hemingway begins: "The Old Man and I had fished fourteen days in a row without taking a big fish. I was not yet an old man, but I was beginning to feel like one. The Old Man also felt like an old man, which was okay, because he was one. He was ninety-two years old. It is wonderful to feel anything when. You're ninety-two years old." "Now You See Me, Now You Don't" offers Pat's theory on the origins of animal camouflage: "Some bright little red bugs find themselves on a sandy desert. They take a look at their surroundings and say, 'Kee-ripes! We stand out like Yasir Arafat at a bar mitzvah! We gotta do something fast!' So they change to the color of sand, except for a few conceited individuals who remain bright red and get eaten by sparrows." "The Worry Box" rounds out. The collection: When one worry disappears, there's always another to replace it. It seems the box is always full. The legendary McManus voice is vigorous, providing laughter in the most unlikely places. Irresistible.