On Tuesdays, They Played Mah Jongg

Book excerpt: For two decades, Michael Bern, a gay television writer in Hollywood, has stared at an unfinished screenplay sitting on his desk. After attending a friend's funeral in his hometown of Newport News, Virginia, Michael returns to Hollywood and finds there is more than a screenplay that is unfinished in his life. He finally confronts what the screenplay represents -- memories and stories of the sometimes sad, often hilarious characters of his past, especially his mother and her four closest friends. Florence, Hannah, Rona, Arlene and Doreen -- five more fascinating, menopausal, Jewish women one would never meet. They were friends for more than forty years and saw each other through life's triumphs, tragedies and multiple spouses. Yet, there was only one constant in their lives. On Tuesdays, they played Mah Jongg