Short Stories
"The Island of Feral Cats" - Douglas Watson is an aspiring novelist who relocates from New York City to the Golden Isles of Georgia where he meets some of the local single women while writing his fantasy novel, The Island of Feral Cats.
On the Island of Feral Cats, there’s a plentitude of God’s creatures. There are canines, both pure-breeds and mutts, and all types of birds, including robins, herons and vultures. Amongst the many live oak trees, draped in Spanish moss, squirrels run from branch to branch with glee, as there are no hunters here to shoot them. But on the various lanes and roads, hiding behind large palm trees or running out from under the azalea bushes, are cats of all colors – black, grey, tan, white and calico. Some of them are strays, but many are feral cats, afraid of no one, breeding wildly and making their home wherever they please.
On the Island of Feral Cats, there’s a plentitude of God’s creatures. There are canines, both pure-breeds and mutts, and all types of birds, including robins, herons and vultures. Amongst the many live oak trees, draped in Spanish moss, squirrels run from branch to branch with glee, as there are no hunters here to shoot them. But on the various lanes and roads, hiding behind large palm trees or running out from under the azalea bushes, are cats of all colors – black, grey, tan, white and calico. Some of them are strays, but many are feral cats, afraid of no one, breeding wildly and making their home wherever they please.
"The Department" - Syth Whitaker, a Savannah native, is an award-winning documentary film director. After a bad divorce and a bout with depression, Whitaker arrives at the Savannah Art College (SAC) from New York City and lands a job in the Film & Television Department as an Artist-in-Residence. He gets involved with a vivacious blonde professor in the department, Dr. Wendy Hart, who has just ended a tumultuous relationship with another professor. Things become tense as Syth learns that Dr. Hart has just ended a relationship with another professor in the department.
As he left the studio, a tall blonde drink of water greeted him in the hallway.
“Well you sure managed to piss that guy off. Is that one of your talents?” said the well-heeled woman with a smirk.
“Aggh, not exactly. I don’t think we’ve met, although I have seen you at the few faculty events that I have attended,” said Syth as he checked out his esteemed colleague. He liked the shape of her eyes and the way her lips pursed. She was not Murakami’s ‘perfect girl’ but definitely a diamond in the rough.
“I’m Dr. Hart. Wendy Hart. I teach cultural theory and film theory,” she said as she extended her hand to Syth. Her hands were smooth but she had a firm grip.
"The Birds of Ras Al Khaimah" - Heather Cummings is an English professor from Canada who has recently completed her doctorate in New York City. She decides to take a three year teaching gig in the small industrial city of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, where she befriends other women at the British University, who are all in search of handsome men and good times.
The youngest of the Dutch men stumbled up to me with his beer in his hand and held it out toward my bottle and said, “Proost. Heineken. It’s from Holland. Like me.”
I raised my green bottle, which was almost empty, and clinked with the handsome man.
“I’m Braham. I work here as an engineer building a dam.” He checked out my rack.
“Nice to meet you, Braham. I’m Heather Cummings from Canada.” I shook his hand firmly.
“Nice. Very nice. And what do you do, Heather?” He put his arm around me.
“I’m an English Professor. I’ll be teaching at the British University here in RAK.”
“Oh yes. I know it. Some of the professors drink here at the bar. Very good. Welcome to RAK.”
“Thanks, Braham.”
I whispered a little something special into his ear. Braham looked at me as if he understood and ordered another beer and returned to his trio of Dutch men, who continued to laugh loudly and often. I was feeling a bit jet lagged so I closed out my tab with Cissy.
“Goodnight, Heather. It was nice to meet you. See you soon here at the bar. I hope.”
"The Zhengzhou Gigilos" - Cuddy, Sully and Suds journey from Canada, Ireland and England to teach English at the Henan Technical Institute. They are musicians who decide to form a rock and roll band in order to meet girls. As they perform on Friday and Saturday nights, they become popular and not only meet lots of girls, they form some lifelong relationships.
The teachers, their luggage, Martin and the students loaded up into the school’s van and they made the trek to the outskirts of the city of Zhengzhou, a dirty and polluted metropolis of 10 million people that was a complete quagmire. Giant construction cranes, mounds of dirt and snarling traffic were all a part of the city’s bleak landscape. The subway was being built and the institute was located across the street from a bus factory that was continually smelting metal. This was neither Beijing nor Shanghai as Hangzhou was in central China and served as a crossroads for the major east-west railroad lines and the new high-speed passenger trains. The outlying areas consisted of corn farms and coal mines and there was nothing at all cosmopolitan about dirty old Zhengzhou and its humid sub-tropical climate that included monsoons in the summer and cool, dry winters.
The teachers, their luggage, Martin and the students loaded up into the school’s van and they made the trek to the outskirts of the city of Zhengzhou, a dirty and polluted metropolis of 10 million people that was a complete quagmire. Giant construction cranes, mounds of dirt and snarling traffic were all a part of the city’s bleak landscape. The subway was being built and the institute was located across the street from a bus factory that was continually smelting metal. This was neither Beijing nor Shanghai as Hangzhou was in central China and served as a crossroads for the major east-west railroad lines and the new high-speed passenger trains. The outlying areas consisted of corn farms and coal mines and there was nothing at all cosmopolitan about dirty old Zhengzhou and its humid sub-tropical climate that included monsoons in the summer and cool, dry winters.
