A Jim and Mary Story July is a dumb time of year to charter a sailboat on the Florida Gulf Coast. When there’s wind it’s fine, but when the wind drops it’s as muggy as a steam bath. But at least it’s cooler when you are sailing, and that’s what we were doing, making the best of the morning wind. We had got fed up with dodging the trains of barges, and the M...
It was my last day to work as a waitress at the coffee shop before returning to college. I was very happy to have a great summer job, but I was also disappointed that I had to work on such a warm sunny Saturday. Instead of being trapped inside the mall, I wanted to be outside wearing a bikini, or less! Moments later, I arrived at work and found a way to make...
Henry Stark took a deep breath, the salty aroma of the sea air made him feel good. Two weeks holiday in Devon was just what he needed, a total break from the noisy, tedious work he endured in the car factory back home. The doctors had warned him, take a break now or look forward to a nervous breakdown. He was glad to take their advice, he had not had a vacat...
It was a pretty dismal January day. The rain just would not stop. My hair was soaked under my blue baseball and stocking caps. At least I was dry under the oilskins and rubber boots. There was a hint of snow mixed with the never-ending rain now that it was mid-day and the temperature had begun to drop. "How the hell did I get roped in this shit," I wondere...
My name is a good place to start; it's Ken. I've never married so there's no Barbie. That is, by the way, an old joke. I am now a refugee from the high tech world. The company which I helped found was bought and I was able to cash out plus a work contract which now was complete. It was coming to an end and the new owners did not want me to stick around. That...
I have Mondays off. It was a Monday in September. I decided to take a long boat trip down the river. There's a restaurant on the river outside Louisville that has a great Monday deal since no one is out on Monday. Louisville is about two hours by water on my little boat. That's where I was headed. My little boat is a 1958 Chris*Craft cabin cruiser, 19' long...
Hidden within a cluster of brightly shimmering stars a small green planet was quietly minding its own business when three well-dressed goons shimmered into existence. Mary, James and Boat girl stepped out of the dim blue light of the scanner and took a deep breath of the alien air; it was sweet, like a flowery disinfectant. James hadn't worn pants in a ver...
It had been a stressful week at work. Actually, it had become somewhat of a habit. Leave work on Friday at lunch and hurry home. Hook my boat up to the truck and head out to my sanctuary, a small island off the Gulf Coast of Florida. That day turned out to be different due to Christina and Maria. It was mid-afternoon when I pulled my restored wooden Chris C...
It had been a stressful week at work. Actually, it had become somewhat of a habit. Leave work on Friday at lunch and hurry home. Hook my boat up to the truck and head out to my sanctuary, a small island off the Gulf Coast of Florida. That day turned out to be different due to Christina and Maria. It was mid-afternoon when I pulled my restored wooden Chris C...
It all started when I answered an ad for a boat for sale. I had been looking for a good boat for a few years but hadn't really looked seriously. The ad in the paper was for a year old boat at a very low price and just the type boat I was looking for. The house where the owner of the boat lived was near the local lake. It was a modest home among some very hi...