The grass is always greener on the other side or is that just astroturf?

On today's selected shorts, we lean way out over the picket fence to find out.

And rest assured you're gawking with the best, including writer George Saunders,

actor Tony Hale, and me, your host, Meg Walitzer.

You're listening to selected shorts, where our greatest actors transport us through the magic of fiction, one short story at a time.

Comparison is the death of joy. Mark Twain reportedly said this and then Theodore

Roosevelt was quoted saying almost the same thing perhaps because he felt a touch of envy?

Okay, the history of attribution is a little hazy, but the underlying point is worth

remembering, no matter how well adjusted and self-assured, we ourselves may feel.

Whether it is studied or it blindsides us, jealousy is always lurking somewhere nearby.

Maybe you secretly envy your friend's perfect life, your enemy's beautiful car, or that

stranger's sizzling plate of fajitas, which you almost ordered for yourself before

opting at the last minute for the sensible grilled chicken salad dressing on the side.

But whatever these tempting visions may be, they can provoke a lot of ugly feelings and even uglier behavior, or at least a snide comment about some diners who need everyone's eyes on their onions and peppers.

There's a reason Shakespeare dubbed jealousy the green-eyed monster.

So let's take a step back away from our own

lives and feelings and consider this week's selected shorts as something of a

laboratory. We're going to hear fiction about envy with some great writers and

actors. We'll hear works about people tempted by seemingly bigger, better lives. Lives

being led over the proverbial fence, a place in which the grass is always greener.

And then we'll see what happens.

One story tempts a famous American feminist with the quaint charms of small town life.

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