Robert Blake Whitehill
Deadrise
To my family
Dedication
While writing Deadrise, I had the privilege of working with a fine crew of Emergency Medical Technicians who serve on the Montclair Ambulance Unit (www.MVAU.org). They stand watch at all hours, ready to aid the infirm, the troubled, and the broken patients who are likely experiencing the worst ten minutes of their entire lives. These stalwart heroes include Mavis Oklahoma Amoakohene, Matt Antolino, Colin Bloody Baker, Justin Banasz, Rescue Mary Berghoefer, Sgt. Tuna Berghoefer, Robert Bertoli, Kris The Beav Bevacqua, Benjamin J. Campos, Deputy Chief Frank Carlo, Michelle Carlo, Richard Chang and the Rescue Gang, Greelensky Charles, Sean Coffey Like the Drink But Spelled Differently, Michael Bigfoot Craig, Brett Davis, Chris DeAngelis, Vincent DeRosa, William Fitzpatrick, Deana Flynn, Elise Fournier, Lt. Aaron Avi Friedman, Ariana Goodman, Steve Goodman, Adam Gubar, Matt Guth, Sean Happy Meal Graham, Brack Healy, Brian Heff Heffernan, Deborah Herr, Sara Herr, Jim High, Jr., Jim High, Sr., Jonathan Doogie Hirsh, Rennie Jacob, Drew Johnson, Renee Karain, Anna Kasko, Corey Keepers, Dan Kosciuszko, Anastasia Lambert, Nick The Saint Lindstedt, Aaron Cheeks Lowe, Elisa MacLean, Sgt. Julie Fireball Martin, Tim Thanks for the Bagel McLoughlin, Alejandra Menendez, Paul Middlemiss, Michael Minnicozzi, Andy Montick, Tim T-Pain Peterson, Stacy Hayes Przybylinski, Ron Roberts, Mark Rossi, Lisa Schneider, Jeanne Scott, Joe Sente, Chief Jamie Simpson, Sue Simpson, Jim Skiba, Denise Smyth, Don Stapp, Sam Sutherlin, Jason Swayze, Justin Thompson, Kelley Tierney, Jeanine Troisi, and Erica Wolfe.
The steadfast men and women named here, many of whom served on the pile in New York City on September 11th, 2001, or who have served us bravely and with great sacrifice in the military, are supported by a dedicated board of directors, a crack team of Advanced Life Support medics, and our area emergency department doctors, nurses, and staff. Officers of the Montclair Police Department and firefighters of the Montclair Fire Department are always eager to lend a helping hand with our toughest cases. Together, they make the life-or-death difference on a 911 call in our town. I have witnessed miracles with them.
Special Acknowledgments
My mother, Cecily Sharp-Whitehill, is a poet and an elegant editor. My father, Joseph Whitehill, was an award-winning short story writer and novelist. They showed me what a writer’s daily life looks like. www.alliance4discoverycoaching.com
My bride, Mary Whitehill, is a profoundly astute reader. I have learned in the course of creating Deadrise that anything hanging up Mary’s read of a draft needs prompt and certain attention, no argument. Ignoring her just means hearing the same notes from somebody else later on. She is ever my saving grace. My young son, Beau, is keenly attuned to the perfect moment to take a break from work to play with trains.
Eloise Johnson taught me to read, the gift of a lifetime. My fiction writing was further honed by teachers Josh Schmidt and Tom Woodward at Westtown School, Professor Dominic le Poer Power of the British and European Studies Group London, Professor Robert Butman at Haverford College, and Robert McKee.
Undertaking Deadrise was suggested by my dear friend Matthew Bialer, of Sanford J. Greenberger and Associates. His cogent ideas of style along the way helped transform me from writer to author. Good friends (and excellent agents) are like lifeguards who strongly suggest not swimming in riptides of one’s own making.
Readers of first drafts are visionaries, like Detroit engineers who can squint at a mound of pig-iron and see a Cadillac. Among these kind souls are Sarah Davies, Barbara Mackie Franklin, Andrea Shane, and Diane Wilder. Their detailed notes were simply crucial.
Wayne Grant Hon Lawson was my most generous guide on Smith Island. He helped bring the people of Smith and Tangier to life, with delightful, winding stories and astounding introductions.
Tom Crouch was the first (and last) person I met who dived for Chesapeake oysters instead of dredging or tonging them up. It must have been a cold business for him, but it was inspiring for me.
There is an actual Michael Craig, and he does have a company called Pemstar (www.Pemstar.biz). Craig can work pretty much all the miracles in reality that his fictional avatar does in Deadrise. It’s rather scary.
For a Quaker and an Emergency Medical Technician concerned with the preservation of human life, Adam Gubar is extremely knowledgeable about the hardware of life’s undoing. He has been a tremendous help in matters of shooting iron, and an interested friend through the whole journey. Any errors having to do with arms and the strategies and tactics associated with their use in this story are mine alone.
Bill Jarblum, a fine feature film producer and storyteller, made some far-reaching observations about Deadrise late in the game, but just in time.
Suzanne Dorf Hall was kind enough to drop everything and cast her eagle eye over the manuscript, asking great questions, and making sure it looks like I can spell.
Rusty Shelton, of Shelton Interactive LLC, along with Allison Bright, Amber McGinty, Beth Gwazdosky, Richard Ricondo, William Ruff, Andrea Sanchez, Susan Savkov, Katie Schnack, Shelby Sledge, Jeremy Strom, and Nick Welp built me a beautiful website, got the word out about Deadrise in a heroic PR campaign, and made sure when social media mavens and bloggers pointed a mic at me, I didn’t make too big a fool of myself.
Kate Knapp and Marissa Madill at Smith Publicity have also been instrumental in helping Deadrise find its audience. Writing is solitary and difficult. Authorship is a team effort, and while this is also no easy thing, it is a genuine pleasure to undertake the job with great people like these.
Mike Wootton is a truly gifted photographer who somehow managed to prevent the ruination of beautiful pictures of Smith Island at moments when I lurched into frame.
Brian Boucher/Barsoom Design created wonderful cover artwork for Deadrise, undoing that tired adage, and proving we do judge a book by its cover. Thank you, Brian, for being so dogged in getting it right long after I was happy.
Corinda DeVingo, proprietor of Beans, in Montclair, supplies the high-test coffee that any writer needs to carry on. There is no such thing as writer’s block when one is hopped up on her Writer’s Blend.
Samantha Codling stokes the oven fires at The Pie Store in Montclair, New Jersey. Her Lucullan sweet and savory creations keep body and soul together when the muse is upon you and there is no time for home cooking.
Karl Guthrie is a great legal scholar, as well as a peerless attorney. I am filled with confidence when I chat with him before any important move.
My life-crew. I thank each and every one of them from my heart and soul.
RBW
27 July 2012
Chestertown, Maryland
PART I
HOMECOMING
CHAPTER 1
Ben Blackshaw dived the Chesapeake Bay for oysters, not corpses. November’s chill stripped off any hope of comfort by a few more degrees each day. The silt, churned up from the late season hurricane dubbed Odette in a crackle of the World Meteorological Organization’s creativity, clouded his view. It was tough to fill the plastic milk crate tied to his deadrise workboat bobbing fifteen feet above. Another oyster reef might have better pickings. He checked his watch. Not the best news. There was barely time to surface, move the boat God knows how far, and get back on the bottom to a fresh rock before dark.