The Scene Excerpt:
The Washashore, Chapter 37
When they’d crossed the low bridge over the salt marsh, the remaining traces of dawn fog drifted between the reeds and out over the marsh’s main channel. It filtered the gathering light and nearly obscured the doe crossing a tidal creek, knee-deep in brackish mud.
“Great blue heron!” Wren gasped. “Can you pull up for a second?”
As Wren readied her camera, the bird stood motionless on sticklike legs. There was a perfect upside-down reflection of the bird in the still water below. When her shutter clicked, a red-winged blackbird took flight. Silas watched as it deftly landed—somehow—on a vertical reed stem a short distance away.
The marsh was misty, quiet. It was so still that Silas couldn’t help but sense a certain intimacy about the setting, the moment—as if he and Wren were the only people who existed in the world and were sharing something secret and special. Contentment welled up in him with such a rush, he was momentarily overwhelmed with emotion.
The Insight:
This scene describes an early morning drive out through the salt marsh at the south end of East Harbor and out to the Atlantic-facing High Head Beach. If you’re detecting any verisimilitude, that would be because it's a drive I actually do most mornings to get the dogs a sunrise hike in the dunes.
It’s not always as warm and pleasant as the fine late summer morning Wren and Silas were enjoying, but it is heart-achingly beautiful year-round. And, surprisingly, there can be fog at any time of the year. Provincetown gets more than its fair share of fog because it sits way out at the tip of the peninsula of Cape Cod where the frigid waters of the Gulf of Maine meet the warm northbound waters of the Gulf Stream.
Those early morning rides are my favorite part of the day. We make our way out the paved one-lane road to the dirt spur, traverse its many potholes, and park at the beginning of the sand road out to the dunes. In the off-season, and on early mornings during the summer, there’s no one around, so the dogs are free to roam through the dunes tracking the scents of fresh fox tracks across the sand, footprints left by rabbits pausing to sniff the wind, or maybe the large, deep pad prints left by one of the outer Cape’s many coyotes. At the top of the dune, miles of deserted beach stretch in both directions.
If you are interested in ordering The Washashore you can find it at—or order it from— these local bookstores: Wellesley Books (Wellesley, MA), The Bookshop of Needham (Needham, MA), Provincetown Bookshop (Provincetown, MA) and Elm Street Books (New Canaan, CT)
Or if you want the convenience and speed of online, but still want to support local bookstores, grab The Washashore through Bookshop.org
Reach Out to Me: Facebook Author Page | Say Hi on TikTok | Say Hi on Instagram
Or if you are an EBook or Online person: Kindle eBook | Barnes & Noble eBook | Kobo eBook | iTunes eBook | Google eBook | Amazon Paperback & Hardcover | B&N Paperback & Hardcover
Leave a Review where it helps most with the algorithm: Review The Washashore on Amazon Leave a Review where it also helps a lot: Review The Washashore on Goodreads
