The varied inhabitants of Brainard, Michigan, examine their lives and losses in very distinct, matter-of-fact voices. A heart attack victim crashes into his brother-in-law’s funeral parlor in the title story; the deaf-mute of “Conversation” begins his tale with the simple sentence, “I don’t think I’ve really had a conversation with anyone since my father died.”      Dan Gerber’s characters are capable of extraordinary compassion and everyday cruelty, and reveal themselves in an unnerving series of layers.