F I C T I O N   Excerpted from the mystery novel Head Above Water.  You get used to things going bump in the night when you live aboard a boat. A fender works itself loose or the tide slaps an empty plastic bottle against the hull, and then you have to decide if it’s going to keep you up all night, or whether a pillow over your head might block out the noise. On this particular night, I knew that I was too keyed up to listen to any noise for very long. I was in a rearward cabin and from the sound of it, whatever was banging against the hull was right alongside the stern, just inches from my head. I pulled on my heavy terrycloth robe and well-worn boat shoes, and made my way up on deck. Grabbing a flashlight that I kept at the helm, I went out the port side door on to the walk-around deck, carefully moving to the foredeck where I kept a gaff pole to fish out the source of the noise. Moving back toward the stern I made a quick check of my portside fender lines, which were all intact. I aimed the beam of light toward the water line on the starboard side. If you’re expecting an old soft drink bottle or an empty plastic oil container, you don’t quite know what to make of a smooth round shape. It was like nothing that I had ever seen floating in a marina, and believe me, you see an extraordinary variety of disgusting objects floating on the water where there are boats and people. Holding the gaff pole in my right hand, I aimed the flashlight with my left hand and leaned over the teak capped railing, trying to get a better look at what was keeping me awake. I pulled upward with the gaff and rotated the orb until I realized that whatever it was, it was looking back at me.

“Jesus H. Christ,” I shouted to no one as I backed up with a start. The gaff pole hung up on the railing and the flashlight went skittering down the narrow deckway. My heart was fibrillating at an alarming rate as I realized that the thing banging against my hull was someone’s head bobbing just above the waterline. A very dead person, who nonetheless had stared back at me as though I could save him. And in a way, I would.

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept. His mystery novel, Head Above Water, is available on Amazon and Kindle. You can also visit his author page here.

F I C T I O N   I ran into Albert Einstein the other day and coincidentally it was in front of a hair salon and an Einsteins Brothers Bagels. I was very perplexed because he certainly didn’t look like a man who just came from a “just a little off the top” experience.

Al? It is you. It’s been ages. Got a minute or are you in hurry?

“The faster you go, the shorter you are.”

Funny you should mention that because I thought maybe you got a haircut or you’ve been combing that mane of yours.

“Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.”

Right. So what’s new? What do you know?

“The only source of knowledge is experience.”

You are so right about that. I guess that’s why everyone says you’re a genius.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

That sounds so quotable. Mind if I use that?

“I never said half the crap people said I did.”

That may be true but people think you have real talent.

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

Okay fine, but the theory of relativity? I mean come on, who thinks up stuff like that?

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

Sure, but do you think there’s some kid in school right now who can top E=mc2?

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.”

No kidding. So what’s it going to take for some physicist to top what you came up with?

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”

I get that but the kids coming out of school now just want to score the next big app or invent the next cool gadget.

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”

I hear you. I worry that these kids are missing the beauty that surrounds them.

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”

Well it’s no mystery that we’re living in scary times. You almost feel helpless when it comes to knowing how to resist.

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

You got that right!

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept. His mystery novel, Head Above Water, is available on Amazon and Kindle.

F  I  C  T  I  O  N  
Exerpted from the book Beneath A Shooting Star

Fear bound her tighter than the rope encircling her wrists and ankles; like a python’s coils it constricted her chest, and made each breath difficult. Her body was a constant reminder she was not trapped in some horrible dream, her cheeks pinched by the tape across her mouth, the inside of her throat dry and sore. … And if that was not reminder enough, there was the gunman right in front of her, all too real. Every time his eyes swept over her, she felt naked under his scrutiny. If only she could tunnel into her mind and hide in a snug burrow of her creation. But her discomfort fixed her in reality.

At first, she kept her head up, eyes staring straight ahead, the only show of defiance possible, but it forced her to look into the dark tunnel of an automatic weapon barrel which frightened her even more. She redirected her gaze downward, her view limited to her legs and feet, the roped extremities of her family who sat on either side of her and the floor. …Time inched along at a sloth’s pace. In the absence of conversation, sounds amplified, the whir of the fan above her head, the distant clap, clap of leather sandals against stone, the squeal of wooden furniture being dragged across the floor, cupboard doors opening and closing, and the occasional bark of an order to the men scavenging in the other rooms of the house.

She considered their situation. Escape was impossible and the likelihood of rescue seemed remote. The walls that surrounded the house for protection and privacy provided the same advantages to the criminals who had breached them. In her helplessness, the only thing she could do was pray to Allah to keep them safe, each silent prayer slipping between her lips like prayer beads through her fingers. But, her petitions failed to push away the thought that fate had caught up with her and this was how her life would end.

As this sense of doom held her in its grasp and all hope fled, she struggled to conjure up pleasant memories to provide some comfort and instead was ambushed by her regrets. If only she could go back to the beginning, back to when anything was possible, back before her missteps had sacrificed the life she’d dreamed of and distanced people she loved.

Connecticut Book Award finalist, Susan Harrison Rashid’s debut novel, Beneath a Shooting Star is available on Amazon.