Nature’s Revenge
By Tony Rehagen Wet footprints splash up the concrete stairs before you. As you climb‚ you notice the peaceful creek below‚ but excited screams from above pull you back to your fate. Within minutes you are at the slide’s summit‚ forty feet above Summer Waves…
Into the Woods
By Tony Rehagen Coasting down the smooth pavement along Ben Fortson Parkway, you try to wave at the oncoming cyclists. But you decide to keep hold of both handlebars and steady your own wobbling bicycle as you turn to cross the road and enter the…
The Seafarer
By Tony Rehagen The stillness of late afternoon is fractured by the rumble of the boat’s outboard motor revving up. The craft picks up speed, stern dipping into the estuarine waters of the Intracoastal Waterway and cutting deeper and deeper into the tranquil surface. A…
Clam Creek Marsh
By Tony Rehagen To the black boat-tailed grackle perched on a high oak branch, Clam Creek at low tide is not a creek at all. It is a puddle-strewn trench with walls of saltmarsh cordgrass. But as afternoon wears on and the grackle’s jeeb is…
The Journey BEGINS
By Tony Rehagen Life is a fight. As one egg in a clutch of 100-plus, the loggerhead topples the odds to avoid predation from a fox or raccoon. Once hatched, the turtle, no bigger than an Oreo, makes the arduous climb out of the nest and onto…
Glory Boardwalk
By Tony Rehagen Follow the tracks, imprints of sneaker soles and bike tires in the sand drifts strewn across the boardwalk. Follow them into the woods, the shadowy tunnel of moss-draped oak, sand-cedar, and slash pine. Listen closely: Beyond the cicadas’ rattle, the gulls beckon.…