SUMMER TO FALL

The Opening of Summer to Fall:

Gravel shot out behind the pickup as Cam Preston gunned it onto the dirt road that led to Nate Horton’s place.  He was only ten minutes late but working for Brinkley he knew he’d hear about it.  On his left lay the backside of Laurel Harbor.  The tidal pool was flooded, the water flat and still, reflecting the sun into his eyes.  All but one of the lobster boats that moored there were out; the rumble of their grinding engines drifted in from beyond the jetty.   Horton liked to brag about the number of painters he kicked off his property:  Across the cove, the abandoned, gray bait shed at the near end of the pier looked postcard Maine.  The rotting bait fish it once held, however, had curdled many a stomach.