BROADNECK TALES

LOCAL FICTION BY AWARD WINNING WRITER PENROD WATERMAN

OYSTERS AND GOLD

Synopsis: Three Broadneck men oystering in January on a double-rig patent tong boat in the 1970s. A gold bar comes up in the tongs covered with mud, is dropped on the culling board, and is pushed off by rote. The men throw a buoy to mark the spot as a Nor’easter presses in. “The tide ran strong against that wind, whipping those waves up to fantastic heights. We could barely make out the white buoy bobbing through the snow. Miss Cindy Lou groaned as if she were coming apart. I feared the booms might snap in two. Jesus, I was scared. Water, mud and gray. Water, mud, and gray. Breaking waves washed across the top of the cabin. And then I had it in my tongs again. Here it is! Gold! Gold! Gold!”

LOST COLONY OF ATLANTIS

Synopsis: A Broadneck anthropologist’s inquiry as to why the peninsula was called Egypt in the 1880s is answered by a woman claiming descent from the pharaohs. At her urging, he memorizes a chapter from the ancient Egyptian scroll “Coming Forth by Day.”  The chapter is titled “Making the Transformation into a Heron.” Thus begins the story of a mystical woman, a local seeker of knowledge, and a miraculous spiritual metamorphosis at the mouth of Meredith Creek overlooking Whitehall Bay.

SLOUGH

Synopsis: Scientists at the Bay Bridge Research Facility, working on the efficacy of long-range space travel, seek to incorporate into human genes the ability of Blue Crabs to slough out, creating a new body. Felons on death row are the volunteer guinea pigs. One of the felons, an evil preacher, having sloughed, grown by a third, and hardened, escapes and rushes to seek revenge against those who testified against him. But his first slough isn’t his last.

SUPER SHREWD SOFIA

Synopsis: Although not as experienced in culinary matters as she imagines, young Sofia advertises her cooking abilities in a local paper. Mr. Samuel McGritty, from the Bay Head side of Little Magothy on Harmony Lane, hires Sophia to prepare two geese he has killed. While Mr. McGritty goes to pick up his dinner guest from the airport, Sophia takes an interest in his wine cellar, and in the geese that now smell so good roasting over the fire and . . . you’ll just have to read the rest for yourself.

JUST A FEW GAMES OF 8 BALL AT BELLA’S

Synopsis: Within a profane setting of beer and pool shooting, an old rabbi reveals a secret hidden for more than two millennia: the only battle lost by Alexander the Great—to Jaddua, the high priest of Israel.