John Storrow

Whisper part 3 Skip worked on the catboat until late at night every night for six months including weekends when he was home from work and could find the time. There were many set-backs like when the electric saw broke, and some of the pieces didn't fit quite right, and had to be re-cut,  but skip never stopped imagining the day when the Whisper would be launched. As he was working he imagined having a launching party with all his friends and taking them for rides in his own beautiful little blue catboat. It was this dream that kept him going through all that hard work until she was finished when the day finally came the weather was overcast with a chance of rain. He had the Whisper all beautifully painted and varnished on the trailer ready to go from the garage. Bob came with his truck and they hitched her up and drove to the boatyard

Whisper part 11  Skip had to figure out how to get all the plans and materials to build the catboat. He had his eye on one in particular that was designed by a famous yacht designer who was one of his heroes. To get the plans, skip wrote a letter to the designer and soon the plans came in the mail, wrapped in a tube. The plans showed every conceivable detail, what sized bronze nails to use for fastening the planks to the frames, what kind of wood to use for the rails, all the dimensions for all the pieces to be cut, what kind of glue and paint to use, and how to assemble all the pieces. Skip was very excited to be studying the plans because he was on his way to making his dream a reality. The delivery truck arrived with sheets of marine plywood in various thicknesses,  spruce boards for the mast and spars, mahogany for the sheer clamps, floor boards, bed logs for the centerboard trunk, long pieces for the shoe, and the toe rails, two gallons of Epoxy and fiberglass cloth, ...

 Whisper  Part 1 the sun was still not up yet when the skipper left the front door of his apartment and headed down the street to the boat-yard. He was ready for a great day of sailing with his friend Bob. In his pack he carried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples, nut bars, water, and sun screen, for it promised to be a long voyage, and the weather forecast said sunny skies, scattered clouds, and plenty of wind The skipper stood waiting on the dock until Bob came and sat on the bench by the shack. "Hey Skip!" said Bob. "you ready to go?" "Yeah, let's do it" said the skipper. They got in the dinghy and rowed out to the W hisper which was the name of the skippers catboat. She had bright blue top-sides, varnished spars and trim, and a huge barn door rudder. Bob and Skip climbed into the Whisper , tied the dinghy to the mooring, untied the sail stops, raised the sail, cast off the mooring, and away they went. The little blue catboat came t...

The skipper of a model sailboat launched his schooner into the pond beside an open field. The wind came steadily across and made the schooner sail across the water leaving a perfect wake. She was called the "Sky" and she was made by hand a long time ago when the skipper was young using layers of wood, a keel, some paint, sails, and radio parts for steering and controlling the sails.  the wind grew even stronger as it often does in the afternoon and the "Sky" sailed even faster as the wind made her tip sideways. The more she tipped, the more her deep heavy ballast keel kept her from tipping As the sun went slowly down behind the trees, the afternoon wind began to go down too. There was a puff, and then calm and then another puff, and then calm until the pond was as smooth as a mirror. The skipper wanted to get the "Sky" back. He tried reaching with a branch, but he couldn't find one long enough. He thought about swimming in to get her but the wate...

 Duck There once was a duck who lived in a tree. far away from where the other ducks could see. he was the only duck who knew the storm was coming but he didn't know when it would be. all the other ducks were swimming in the pond and playing games quite happily.  Soon the wind started to blow. Slowly at first, then it was like a jet engine blast, and the rain was being blown horizontally. But before the storm came, the duck in the tree warned his friends the other ducks who took shelter in a cave at the edge of the pond and they all sang a song so beautifully. even though the wind kept blowing faster, and faster and faster and it pushed a sailboat past the door to the cave so fast that it's captain had to be brave. Soon it grew dark outside but the ducks were still gad for a place to hide and they swam farther into the cave and came to a part that was very wide that had many islands inside and which one to land on they could not decide. So the duck ...

I wonder what I would do if I were to write a book about getting out of my current job as an MFA guard. Dear world, do you know the way to a job that doesn't involve dealing with the general public? Ronald Reagan was president when I started and now there's Barack Obama. Gotta stay positive on that front. So far so good. Chapter one could be a description of what led up to today. Chapter two could be the first imagining of a particular way to another job that would involve boats in some way. Chapter three could be a pure fantasy escape from the MFA as if it were a prison, which it's not but it's fun to imagine. Chapter four could be a detailed description of life in the MFA dealing with confused old ladies trying desperately to find the bathroom, characters wearing studded cowboy boots standing too close to Thomas Sulley's "Washington Crossing the Delaware" or whatever it's called, and endless radio chatter from guards requesting bathroom breaks to ...