President in the Bathroom

The boundaries of time and space--and the dignity of the highest elected office in the land--get irreverently bent in two whimsical short stories by Sean Munger.

In "The Stranger of Mt. Vernon," it's Virginia in 1797 and you'll find the welcome mat out and a hot meal waiting for you at the cozy plantation home of George Washington, recently retired as the nation's first president. But you'd better keep an eye on the other guests in residence. One of them is not what he seems. Is he an assassin intent on rubbing out the father of our country--or just a kid trying to pass his history class?

What would you do if you saw a dead president in your bathroom? Well, not dead exactly--he seems to be breathing, occasionally swigs from a flask and offers depressing advice to troubled married couples--but that doesn't change the fact that history records he died in 1869. Don't feel on the spot if you don't know exactly how to react in this situation. The characters in "President in the Bathroom" don't either.