Somewhere slightly south of the great Susquehanna River and north of the Elizabeth River lies the town of Paradise Cove. It’s an old timey kind of place with the feel of a waterman’s town, although fishing, clamming and crabbing are no longer much of a livelihood around these parts. Folks around here do still have that independent spirit and a dislike for new things (and people).
Now the town has only two main industries, if you care to call them that; the Apex Fertilizer Company and Purgatory Cove Fish Dock & Marine. Of the two, Purgatory Cove can claim to have been here the longest. Originally founded by Sam’s dad before the Second World War, it is currently run by Sam, Lefty and Wade.
How Lefty and Wade came to be partners in Purgatory Cove is still not widely known or discussed. There have been allegations and rumors about an all night poker game but no one who was there is still alive and kicking to talk about it. Sam’s Momma is still around but she wasn’t there and won’t talk about it.
Nevertheless, Purgatory Cove still staggers along from year to year. They sell some gas, sell some bait, fix some boats and run the marina as they see fit. This is to say, not very energetically or profitably. Sam comes up with a wild scheme to make money from time to time but they don’t usually amount to much.
They do have an almost legendary, or at least infamous, cadre of customers who keep coming back year after year to suffer abuse from Sam and bungling ineptitude from Lefty and Wade. They’re not mean-spirited, just not your highly driven, type A personalities. In fact, Sam calls them type Z personalities, if you get my drift.
Purgatory Cove Fish Dock & Marina lies at the end of Purgatory Cove Road, on the shores of Purgatory Cove itself. There is a boat shed, actually a World War two war surplus Quonset hut, several boat docks and a long fishing pier with the bait shack at the end. Located nearby are the trailers of Lefty and Wade and Sam’s Momma’s house, where Sam also lives.
Lefty usually drives the old travel lift (probably war surplus, too) used to move and store the motley collection of boats stored on the hard while Wade assists with the blocking and boat supports. Nothing fancy, just a collection of old railroad ties, cinder blocks and well used 2x4’s and 2x6’s with some pine strapping thrown in for good measure.
Willy is the only commercial crabber operating out of Purgatory Cove right now. Most of the local figure he crabs as much to get away from his wife as to actually go crabbing. His 4:30 am starting of his straight stack exhaust can be heard almost all over the county.
Leaving or entering Purgatory Cove is no snap either. One encounters the dreaded “Flats” right outside the mouth of Purgatory Cove. The channel is usually marked by Lefty or Wade, with varying degrees of success. Visiting boaters have often accused the Purgatory Cove staff of deliberately miss-marking the channel so the towing services will tow their boats into Purgatory Cove.\
That’s patently nonsense as the tow boat companies bow refuse to enter Purgatory Cove. Willy occasionally makes a windfall by towing stuck boaters off the flats, usually in exchange for all their beer cargo. Lefty and Wade have actually been known to properly repair a boat or two but you have to catch them on the right day.
Lefty and Wade are loners but Sam takes every opportunity to visit Nancy down at Tooties Restaurant in town, Lefty and Wade have been avoiding town after that recent run in with the town sheriff.
The guys at Purgatory Cove are slowly becoming better known. A fellow from one of those boating magazine up north keeps putting some of Lefty and Wades literary scribblings in his magazine and on his radio show. It attracts a few visitors who manage to find the place, but Sam, Lefty and Wade soon drive them off. And that’s the way Sam likes.
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