February 17, 2011

An Excerpt from 'Catch of the Day' by Lily Sawyer





Here's a quick blurb:


Kellan Murphy is a successful car dealer in Chicago, but he isn't happy with his life. He finds his job boring and wants a change.  After the sudden death of his lover he decides to move someplace warm. He sees an ad for the Florida Keys in a magazine and packs everything and moves to the Keys.


Kellan starts his new life as a fisherman and tour guide. He has his own home and boat, but the one thing missing is someone to share his life with. On a rare day off he decides to go fishing and what he finds at the end of his fishing line changes his life forever.



 An Excerpt:


Kellan grabbed a cup of coffee and carried it out to the back deck of his beach house.  It had been a year since he moved from Chicago to the Florida Keys.  The two places were as different as night and day.  Back home there was a foot of snow on the ground and here the temperature didn’t make it down to the freezing point.  He certainly didn’t miss having to deal with the icy winds and the endless winters.


He’d worked as a car salesman for one of the biggest automakers, and had been recognized as their top seller two years in a row, but the accolades didn’t mean anything to him.   He felt like he’d become like a robot in the corporate world and he desperately needed a change.   He’d been looking at a travel magazine while sitting in his doctor’s waiting room and spotted an ad for the Florida Keys.


There was nothing holding him in Chicago, his parents had died a few years ago and they’d left him a nice inheritance.    He’d been in a serious long-term relationship, but after losing him in a tragic accident he decided this was the final straw and it was time to start a new life somewhere else.    


Now he had sunny days and a new business venture that got him excited to get up in the morning.    He’d always loved nature, he remembered going on family vacations to the mountains with his parents and his father taking him out on the boat they kept up there.    It was one of his fondest childhood memories.   Now he was living his dream of owning his own boat; he enjoyed taking people on tours of the Keys.  Kellan also took people deep sea fishing, his clientele ranged from the locals to big wigs who wanted to land the ‘big one’ to the vacationers who came from all over the world to experience the Keys.    Ernest Hemingway was to blame for the influx of visitors, the famous author put the place on the map, but Kellan wasn’t complaining.  He loved meeting new people and seeing the joy come over their faces when they caught some fish.    The really big ones were the marlin and sailfish; they could really give you a run for your money.   


So here he was sitting in the Keys enjoying all this new life had to offer.   While he enjoyed his time with other people during the day, his evenings were spent in his house, alone.    Maybe one day he would find someone, he just wasn’t in any hurry, he was still grieving over Frank.


Kellan heard his empty stomach rumbling and made himself scrambled eggs for breakfast and filled two thermoses with coffee then drove over to the marina where his boat was docked.


This morning Kellan didn’t have any charters and he decided to take off on his own.  He filled up an ice chest with beer, bottled water and sandwiches, made sure his tank was filled up with gas, weighed anchor and was on his way.


The weather was gorgeous and Kellan still marveled at how blue the water was. He’d dreamed of seeing the ocean one day and now here he was, there was nothing like smelling the fresh ocean breeze and feeling the salty mist on your face.


After spending some time out in the open ocean he sailed into his favorite private spot, a deserted cove and picked up his lucky fishing pole and cast it into the water.  It wasn’t long before he was catching fish, they’d make a delicious dinner and whatever he didn’t use he’d freeze.   He worked up an appetite so he took a break to have lunch.  He was sitting in a chair on the deck finishing the last bite of his sandwich and drinking from a bottle of beer when he saw the fishing line he’d left in the water start to bob up and down.  He put the bottle down and went over to check it out.


“Damn!” Kellan grunted as he pulled on the line; it felt like it weighed a ton.  “What’ve I got on the end of this line a whale?”  He blurted out.


“Uhhhh,” He put his back into it as he pulled on the pole and reeled in his line.  Kellan figured he could have snagged a mackerel or maybe even an old tire.   You came across pollution from time to time, even down here in a pristine place like the Keys.


He could see a shape in the water and it definitely was not a fish.   The front part of the animal was hidden under the boat; he could see the tail flukes and thought it might be a manatee.  


“Oh man,” he was worried he’d get in trouble with the fish and wildlife conservation commission; manatees were a protected species.   He quickly tried to get the animal out from under the boat so he could get a better look at it and see if it was hurt.  As soon as the lower half of the animal cleared the underside of the boat it became clear what the catch of the day was.  “Oh my gawd!”  Kellan couldn’t believe his eyes.   It wasn’t a manatee; in fact it wasn’t like any manner of marine life he’d ever seen.    The tail looked like a manatee or whale but he saw the head and torso of a man attached to it.   ‘A merman!’    Kellan thought.    He didn’t have time to think about it.  He could see the man was hurt.  So he quickly pulled him onto the deck.  The fishing line had tangled on his tail so he took a knife and cut the lines.    


“Hey, uh, bud.  You okay?” Kellan wasn’t sure what to make of this creature.  Was he a man or a fish? Kellan’s instincts took over and he checked the merman for injuries.  As his hand disappeared into the dark hair, he found a bump on the back of the merman’s head.  His arms weren’t broken, he felt along the well-built body for broken ribs but found nothing then he looked down at his waist.  Instead of hips, thighs and two legs there was a long torso that ended in a tail.


Kellan was at a loss as to what to do next.   


End Excerpt


To buy it now! http://silverpublishing.info/product_book_info/coming-soon-c-2/catch-of-the-day-p-183

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for commenting!