Sunny Acres — Naomi Williams

"All the world's a stage" where Ruth Smith resides with her beloved pet, Othello, her long-haired Chihuahua. Ruth, a retired English teacher who lives very happily in the lifecare community called Sunny Acres in Columbia County, Georgia, near Augusta, decides to write a book about the stories that she knows are there behind every door in her upscale community. She will aptly call her book "Sunny Acres." Within the pages, Ruth introduces warm, crazy, lovable, and not-so-lovable residents. Biddy Pritchett, for example, is hard to love; she thrives on gossip and boasts of an ancestral tree rooted in Queen Elizabeth I. Then there is the couple who celebrates their sixty-ninth wedding anniversary-still young at heart and in love. The mysterious Muriel Townshend appears by ambulance to convalesce from hip surgery. Muriel shares with Ruth not only her love of books but also the dark tragedy of her childhood. Where there's laughter, there is Anne Byrd, who may love animals more than people. She and Ruth issue invitations to a mock wake commemorating the loss of Cerberus, a stuffed three-headed dog. And then there's Chester, who works in Maintenance and is idolized by every resident as well as the community which has honored him for his extensive volunteer services in his off hours. Chester's life story is so shocking that Ruth questions whether anyone can believe it. Lastly, Ruth falls in love with Richard, an Englishman and a transplant to the deep south who finds the regional drawl and numerous southern idioms confusing and amusing. Ruth will tell all their stories and many more. She writes in the first chapter of her book: "Hers will be the story of those who are near the end of life, many facing it heroically and fearlessly. She will handle them gently and touch them with humor and sometimes sadness." In "Sunny Acres" Ruth fulfills her purpose as she brings to life the funny, heartwarming stories behind the doors of this lifecare community.