"From the Fifteenth District" by Mavis Gallant

If the dead haunt the living, it stands to reason that the living haunt the dead. There, we've given away the "gimmick" to this story, but that doesn't matter; the humor and emotional impact of this story alone is worth the reading (or listening). Read by Elizabeth Leavell.

Born in Montreal in 1922, Mavis Gallant has lived in Europe since 1950 and has been publishing stories, novels, and nonfiction ever since--dozens of her stories have appeared in The New Yorker alone. She is considered a true innovator of the modern short story and one of Canada's chief literary exports to the world. It is said that she reads newspapers in four languages every morning, but maybe that's just to make the rest of us look inadequate.

Like Mavis Gallant, Elizabeth Leavell is an expat of sorts herself--a southerner who now makes her home among the yankees. She teaches and tutors at Tufts University and writes an occasional mystery novel (under assumed names, of course). She is currently bringing up Dora, who recently graduated summa cum laude from her dog obedience class.