GOING TO SEE GRASSY ELLA

Two Ohio sisters end up in Manhattan and beyond, seeking a faith healer for the younger, Peej, soon to begin chemotherapy. Annie, who narrates, knows Peej's scheme is outlandish but realizes that her sister has much to lose if they don't try. Coincidentally, their parents are out of town when they fly to N.Y.C.; coincidentally, the thug who steals their backpacks (and tickets, etc.) has an honest partner, Ivory, who returns the booty; coincidentally, Ivory can arrange for the sisters to go to a Mets game (Peej's favorite team), where they have box seats; also coincidentally, Ivory's wealthy father has turned state's witness against the big-time bozos who kidnap Peej in the rich Ivory's stead—and Peej and Annie play a part in the bust-up of a drug ring at faith-healer Graciella's home. Peej recovers. All this story lacks is any sense of comic timing. Each turn of the plot is handled with pacing two bases short of a home run; Graciella's eagerly anticipated entrance is, after all, little more than a program note. Peej and Annie have real presence, and their give-and-take rapport is pitch-perfect. But they should have stayed in Ohio. (Fiction. 9+)