Foodworld: A Novella

Foodworld focuses on a married couple (Tom and Janet) struggling to keep their small grocery store afloat in the midst of an electricity shortage. Parallel to this energy crisis is the growing crisis in their marriage.

Tom seems to be losing interest in Janet and increasingly turns to Internet porn for gratification. Janet, who already suffers low self esteem due to her prosthetic leg and glass eye, craves Tom's attentions to little avail. An enigmatic stock clerk at Foodworld (Jay) arrives on the scene as an unlikely voice of reason and even clairvoyance. He challenges Tom's inertia and propels him to take seemingly inconsequential actions he would have otherwise avoided.

Matters are complicated by the arrival of Tom's 33-year-old daughter from a youthful indiscretion (Ruth) who was put up for adoption and now wants a relationship with her birthfather. Ruth finds her own sexual promiscuity a constant frustration as she weighs her actions against a staunch religious background. As the story develops, the store's financial woes worsen and Tom and Janet endure an escalating series of catastrophes. When Tom falls apart, Janet takes an unexpected action to save the situation and themselves.