Wheel and Worm Gear

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Years ago, on Pelican Creek near Jacksonville Beach, I hung out on a 40′ ketch built in 1929 by Casey Boat Building. I loved that boat and the great times aboard her.

Decades passed.

Then the owner stopped by—having moved back from the Dominican Republic where he owned a bar. He brought me the Edson wheel and worm gear to that old boat. They’re prized possessions kept in the third floor office at Pineapple Hill where I work on being a novelist.

The stories I write includes whispers of those times on Pelican Creek.

40' ketch built in 1929 by Casey Boat Building Edson wheel and worm gear Pineapple Hill

Bad things happened, an entire run of them that shut me down, caused me to withdraw from everything except my inner self.

One afternoon, in a hammock, I took a photo of myself. Just my legs. But there was no one to send it to. No one to understand.

I needed a sidekick so I sketched an armadillo because they’re crusty on the outside but not within. I made him my butler. Crusoe’s manservant Friday.

We began interacting—my hammock photo speaking to that critter, that critter speaking back.There’s a folder of cartoons somewhere. For now there’s just this one. (LINK)

Eventually after that I began writing novels.

I’m still a hermit, marooned you might say, but leaving my shell more and more—my inner self seeking its freedom through writing.