The Shady Side of Delmarva
Gritty, darkly humorous, and unsettling, these stories reveal how quickly life veers off course when desire, fear, and chance take the wheel.
Set among commercial garages, chicken houses, government offices, and the boating crowd at a tony marina, this collection follows working men and women as their lives bend under bad luck, bad love, and quiet betrayal.
A young diesel mechanic learns skill alone won’t save him from a ruthless boss. A delivery driver meets three unforgettable customers. Two bored teenagers take a summer job that spirals through a chicken house into an asylum. A recovering alcoholic becomes obsessed that buried gold lies hidden on his family’s farm. A bitter standoff erupts between a stepfather and a young woman’s fiancé. An offshore Ocean City outing, flush with alcohol and paid companionship, flirts with disaster.
Other stories include a long-haul trucker trying to placate his volatile, addicted wife with the wrong gift; electricians working a freezing night in a crumbling apartment complex; a young engineer torn between stability and nightlife; a routine visit to a Social Security office descending into a melée; a respected county official slowly corrupted by a deceptive partner, and a burly road worker undone by fear of witches, until rescued by two college girls.
Even in paradise … the sun does not always shine.
