CHICAGO CONNECTIONS
Get ready for some laughs on this road trip

Evergreen Park writer Melissa Fraterrigo tells fantastical tales where extreme oddities get a few sideways glances but become part of the rhythm of ordinary life. In her collection of short stories, "The Longest Pregnancy (Swallow's Tale Press, $25, $14.95 paper), the woman in the title story is pregnant for six years but manages to swim in Lake Michigan and work at the cosmetics counter of a store called Fields.