The baker's wife / Sara Powers -- Thinning the herd / Peter Lefcourt -- The gates are closing / Amy Bloom -- Midnight's children : a screenplay in search of a movie / Salman Rushdie -- The girls' guide to hunting and fishing / Melissa Bank -- Notes to my biographer / Adam Haslett -- Inside information / Nicola Barker -- The leopard gang / George Makana Clark -- To make a long story short / John Nichols -- Scaring the baddest animal / Chris Spain -- Her new life / Emily Perkins -- Step men / Lucia Nevai -- Custer on Mondays / Jon Billman -- Mortality check / Philip Gourevitch -- Dancing with the one-armed gal / Tim Gautreaux -- What the butler said / Javier Marías -- The screenplay and the state fair / David Mamet -- Fair warning / Robert Olen Buter