Hotels
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Layover
Read fullThe crew van smells of floor polish and somebody's biltong, and Thandi is asleep against the window with her cap in her lap by the time we hit the N2. I let her sleep. She flew the…
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After Lorna
Read fullGideon Strand is trying to hang his funeral jacket in a hotel closet built for a much smaller man when he hears Ellis Reeve say his name from the bedroom doorway of the suite…
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Last Sailing
Read fullThe board in the ferry terminal flipped the six-forty to CANCELLED while I was still reading it, and a man two seats down from me said, "Well, that's a shame," in the voice of…
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Outer Wharf
Read fullThe storm that was supposed to blow past by noon parked itself over the channel instead and wouldn't leave. By four the outer wharf was a gray smear of wet rope and cold iron, and…
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Pier Ledger
Read fullThe pier smelled like wet rope and diesel when I walked back from the chandlery with a paper bag under my arm. Fog had already started chewing the outer channel. Harbor Hotel sat…
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Harbor Key
Read fullThe key card was warm from my pocket when I tapped it against the reader. Green light. Soft click. Harbor Hotel, third floor, room 308—I’d asked for water-facing when I checked in…
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The Room Facing the Breakwater
Read fullThe harbor hotel had the kind of honesty I liked: salt on the windowsills, a carpet that had seen too many rolling bags, and a lobby that smelled faintly of diesel and lemon…