Nuclear Winter First Strike by Bobby Akart (best fiction books of all time .txt) 📗

the day before, even assuming, until later told otherwise, that she’d returned to Washington. He was anxious to speak with her about the nuclear exchange.

Hank glanced ahead of her as he approached. He didn’t mean to startle her, but she was about to encounter a rarity in the Keys, one that might shock her.

“Erin, wait,” he announced with a tone of caution.

She swung around. “Um, hi, Hank. Is everything all right?”

“Yes, just don’t move.”

Erin stopped in her tracks and tilted her head with a puzzled look on her face. He caught up to her with his hands spread apart, waving them up and down as if he wanted her to remain calm.

“Slowly. Back away from where you’re standing,” he instructed as he held his hand out to her. She took it and carefully picked up her feet, which had sunk somewhat in the wet sand. Her first instinct was to look around her feet, presuming there was something dangerous nearby. She couldn’t see it, but she followed Hank’s suggestion nonetheless.

Still holding her hand, he led her up the slope a few feet away from the water’s edge. “This is your lucky day,” he said with a smile. He hesitated to let go of her hand. It was soft and warm. It felt right. But he did and walked just to where the wave line was created in the wet sand.

“Is it a jellyfish?” she asked.

“No, better. Let me introduce you to a stargazer.”

“Where?” Erin asked as she gingerly inched forward and bent over to see what he was referring to.

Hank knelt down and drew a semicircle in the sand when the water receded. Erin looked closer until the water lapped over the space again. He redrew the line in the sand.

“Do you see it?” he asked as he waved for her to come closer.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and bent over at the waist. “Well, I’ll be damned. It is a fish.”

“A stargazer. It’s very unusual, but we happen to get them all the time on this desolate stretch of beach. Look closer. You can see that its eyes, gill slits, nostrils and most of its mouth are on top of its body.”

Erin studied the twenty-inch-long fish that was half-submerged. It’s dark blackish-brown body blended in perfectly with the wet sand.

“How did you see it from back there?”

“After living here for all my life, you notice slight variations in the sand. Most people might think it’s a rock or something under the surface. Until, of course, they step on it. These guys are stout, and they have a special organ just behind their eyes that produces an electric shock for anyone who unknowingly grabs it.”

“Or steps on it,” added Erin.

Hank nodded, and the two of them stood upright to study the unusual creature. “May I join you? I usually walk along the beach in the mornings, you know, just to get ready to do battle with hostile and ornery hotel guests.”

Erin let out a hearty laugh. “You mean like my sisters?”

Hank had no intention of his joking remark to be associated with her three older sisters. “No, not at all. And I was just kidding. Only rarely do we have a guest we simply cannot please. It happens. Not everybody gives out five-star reviews.”

“Don’t I know it. I’m in politics, remember. You piss off half your constituents. Initially, you please the other half until at some point you piss most of them off as well. By the time your career in public service is over, most everybody is mad at you, making you wonder why you bothered.”

“Why did you? Bother, I mean.”

They continued to study the interesting stargazer.

“It wasn’t my idea,” she replied casually. “My ex was politically connected, but he made too much money as a personal injury lawyer to seek public office. He made a living out of suing the wrong people, corporate giants, for example. Therefore, he had a résumé that was easy to shoot at. Instead, at a dinner party one night, he offered me up as a better candidate.”

“Were you surprised?”

Erin laughed. “Well, we’d discussed it, but nothing serious. Because of my degree in public administration, I had an aptitude for the operations of government. My minor in transportation and work with Florida’s highway commission as a lobbyist made me an ideal candidate for a transportation position.”

“Not agriculture?” Hank asked a logical question considering her current position.

“Well, that came later. The governor appointed me to head the Florida Department of Transportation. When the commissioner of agriculture became embroiled in a sex scandal, the governor looked to a familiar face with no skeletons in the closet to fill the post. As a result, with only a year of public service under my belt, I became one of four members of the Florida cabinet behind the lieutenant governor, attorney general, and the state’s chief financial officer.”

“Wow. You moved fast.”

Erin looked down shyly and smiled. “Well, the temporary appointment was easy. Running in the special election is what got me put on the so-called political radar as a proverbial up-and-comer.”

Hank shrugged. “I’m sorry, but I don’t follow politics, really. I vote for president, and that’s about it.”

“That’s okay. Ordinarily, I would’ve been one of those down-ballot candidates that folks fill in the circle next to because it was on a certain side of the page. As it happened, my first campaign was in an off-year election cycle where the race was the most prominent in the state. Hell, we had debates. Mudslinging. Outside money pouring in. All the hallmarks of a gubernatorial race except it was for Ag commissioner.”

“And you won.”

“Decidedly so in an evenly divided state.”

“I bet your husband was proud of you.”

Erin laughed and ran her fingers through her hair. She glanced up at the cloudless sky and smiled. “One would think, but alas, no. It led to our divorce.”

“Why?” asked Hank, hesitating to pry but doing so anyway.

“He became jealous of my success and notoriety. He tried to take credit for my win