The Outlaw Steve Corbett ink splotch

Swan Dive! Ch. 4: For the Birds

June 8, 2022

First Sam brushed the driftwood gently to remove sand and dirt. Then he softly blew on the wood from all angles to alert whatever unseen organisms might live on or in the wood, giving the tiniest specks of life a chance to move out or fly away. Then he soaked the driftwood in a pail […]

Swan Dive! Ch. 3: New Jersey Nightmare

June 1, 2022

Just like that, out of nowhere, Sam Bennett delivered to a stranger on the beach an impromptu ornithology lesson. “A gull can eat up to 20 percent of its body weight in food each day,” the shriveled sun-cured senior citizen said. “That’s a lot of french fries,” Marty Durkin said. “A group of gulls is […]

Armed and Dangerous: A Short Story

May 27, 2022

Every man, woman and child in the civic arena rose to their feet when little Sally Rumple took the podium. Dressed in a camouflage patterned sun dress, the freckled second grader wore blond pigtails and a sunny smile. “I can shoot the eyes out of a potato,” she said into the microphone in a Minnie […]

Swan Dive! Ch. 2: Foulmouthed Beach Bird

May 25, 2022

Whatever it took to save the world, Ruby Arenas worked all the shifts she could get as a server at RayRay’s Elbow Room to earn money for her master’s degree in environmental science at the University of South Florida in Tampa. RayRay promised to hire the 25-year-old nature lover fulltime as soon as he had […]

Swan Dive! Ch. 1: So You Want To Be a Bird?

May 18, 2022

For Sam Bennett the end of the world didn’t seem all that far away. Standing on a wobbly left leg covered in mosquito bite scabs, he faced the smeared full length mirror he hauled from a Dumpster and leaned against the wall of his bedroom. Putting both thumbs under both arms, he began to flap […]

The Outlaw Steve Corbett ink splotch