Ummm, you might want to hold that thought on whether the title of the story is hopeful because...no. It isn't. In fact, it's downright depressing.

It's a line from Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. In context, what the line means is "nobody ever gets what they really want."

It's said by a Crooks, a black farmhand to George and Lennie (basically itenerant farmhands who go from farm to farm looking for work). Here's the actual quote (bold emphasis mine):

I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads. Hunderds of them. They come, an' they quit an' go on; an' every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Everybody wants a little piece of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's just in their head. They're all the time talkin' about it, but it's jus' in their head.

And yes, handbasket is one word.

As for your other comments (re: invitation spell), it's commented on in passing in a later part.

As for what else Willow has tucked away...unh, you haven't been rading over my shoulder while I write, have you?

And...yeah, I'd love to know the name of the Xander/Kennedy story myself.