One-hundred-year-old best-selling author Alice Bainbridge is being feted by a convention of authors who variously admire or worship her. After her brief remarks, she has just one request for those who want to talk to her after the program: Forget the lavish praise, the gushing love, the groupie tears, she just wants to hear stories.

"Because listening to good stories is pretty much what's keeping me alive. So please, tell me a story. That's my reason for being here."

~Alice Bainbridge

So that's what they did. Twenty-five intrepid storytellers stepped forward to answer Alice's challenge. These are their stories.