The Third Wish is Death

By Bill Russo

Living on a 64 mile long sandbar with barely enough topsoil to grow a dandelion, has forced Cape Codders to become wiley and wise far beyond their limited education. Perhaps no single individual proved that fact as much as John Sears. Known all over the Cape as ‘Sleepy” for his habit of nodding off frequently during the day; he invented a way to harvest salt while he was napping – and this was when a bushel of salt was worth $180 in today’s money.
This story is only incidentally about “Sleepy John Sears” and salt, it’s really about an up and coming young Cape Codder named Nathan Cabot. He has his own ideas about improving salt production but he’s hampered by his loving father’s mystical wish.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bill Russo
• Release date: Dec 8, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370933860

Bill Russo

Bill Russo had lived in an area of Massachusetts called the Bridgewater Triangle for many years and never knew that it was said to be inhabited by scary swamp creatures until he met one. It happened on a midnight walk. Years later, two film producers read his blog about it and featured him and his story in their documentary, The Bridgewater Triangle. He also was approached by Discovery channel producers and was featured in the opening segment of Monsters and Mysteries in America - Season two, Episode two. Among his work, are two anthologies featuring the Bridgewater Triangle Universe. One is strictly fiction and the other contains his account of meeting the swamp creature - plus other stories from New England. As a disc jockey, he was the first person to play and promote the trucking classic "Tombstone Every Mile". He counted as a friend, the first man to cross the musical color line, in a 1940s Jazz Band. The "Human Jukebox", who opened for both Elvis and Roy Orbison, was a neighbor of his. Stories of these and other artists are included in "Crossing the Musical Color Line". Bill's background for writing comes from a Boston education at the venerable white shirt & tie, Huntington School for Boys. He followed that up with a study of journalism, music, and broadcasting at the famed Kenmore Square institution, Grahm Jr. College, where he said he learned more about music from an African American gentleman who was the school's janitor, than he ever could in a classroom. He introduced me to Gloria Lynne, Bill said. Years after he learned of her, she had a mega hit with I Wish You Love. One of Grahm's well known graduates was performance artist Andy Kaufman who created his Taxi TV character Latka while at Grahm. Andy also claimed he learned Transcendental Meditation at Grahm, although it was not taught there. But who knows? It could be true. Bill Russo learned music from the Janitor. Maybe someone in bookkeeping was a guru and gave Andy the secrets of TM. At various times during his career, Russo was a New England Newspaper Editor, a Disc Jockey, and a Radio newswriter and newscaster for a number of stations. He also has had stints as an iron worker, and a low level manager for a major mail order clothing retailer. One of his favorite jobs was partnering with Bill Barry, the inventor of a jewelry polish called Clear Bright n Shiny. The 'Bills' as they called themselves toured New England selling...

Book preview

The Third Wish is Death

By Bill Russo

Based on a classic 1902 theme by

British author W.W. Jacobs

2017 – Published by CCA Media, Cape Cod, U.S.A.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission of the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Foreword

Tiny Cape Cod, a narrow 64 mile long island/peninsula in New England, jutting out 40 miles into the Atlantic Ocean, has always had an importance that far outweighs its size.

That which gave the area its name – the Codfish – from the beginning was a vital part of the economy but enterprising Cape Cod people also found other ways to capitalize on the region’s assets.

The billion dollar cranberry industry was born in Dennis in Middle Cape Cod when Captain Henry Hall a revolutionary war hero developed the modern cultivation process of spreading sand on the vines and in the bogs. Even today Cape Cod and Massachusetts remain the second largest cranberry growing area in the United States.

Throughout most of the 1800s the Sandwich Glass Company was one of the nation’s leading producers of decorative as well as functional glassware. The company was one of the earliest to employ the ‘pressed glass’ process, in which a plunger was used to press molten glass into a mold. The Sandwich Glass Museum of today holds many priceless items dating back as far as the 1820s.

The Cape was among the first and most successful salt producers in Colonial America. In fact, a Cape Codder named Sleepy developed a highly successful way of making salt while