Yesterday Revealed The Florida Keys: Hubris of Pretension

By Kerry Kwiecinski

Yesterday Revealed the Florida Keys: Hubris of Pretension takes place amongst once described as the 'Emerald Isles' This novel weaves intrigue, suspense, history, and romance into a fast paced gem of a story. Conservation Officers Kip Greene and his live in girlfriend Suzy, as well as their close friend Teqe who studies Florida Keys antiquities,

• Language: English
• Publisher: Go To Publish
• Release date: Nov 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781647494858

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Yesterday Revealed the Florida Keys

Copyright © 2021 by Kerry Kwiecinski

Fiction; Adventure; Mystery; History; Romance

ISBN-ePub: 978-1-64749-485-8

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher or author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within.

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Acknowledgements

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the following people:

First of all are my parents, Carol and Richard, posthumously: They each, in their own way, contributed to creating an environment that ultimately provided the ‘tools’ which have enabled the creativeness and discipline to complete a project such as writing this novel. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

Secondly: I would like to thank, posthumously, Winifred Shine Fryzel who wrote a book named ‘The Golden Cockerel, The Art, Symbolism and History of the Stained Glass Windows, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church’ of Key West, Florida. I was married in St. Paul’s and wondered, as many times I’ve been inside this beautiful church, what are the ‘stories’ these ‘World Renowned’ stained glass windows are telling a viewer. Winifred’s book was the answer. Chapter 37 of my novel is really a tribute to Winifred: It is an attempt to capture the splendor and history she described of those stained glass windows. Thank you, Winifred.

Thirdly: I want to thank Mr. Mike Kwiecinski for being my biggest cheerleader for bringing this novel across the finish line. When I started second guessing myself, he basically challenged me to persevere and finish! Thank you, Mike.

Finally: Thank you to my Publisher, GoToPublish and my team Blanca, Max and Hanz for believing in and supporting the Publishing of this novel. Thank you GoToPublish.

Yesterday Revealed – the Florida Keys: Hubris of Pretension

KK

Characters

Kip Greene Conservation Officer

Suzy Conservation Officer, lives with Kip

Teqe Tequesta Indian,

friend of Kip and Suzy

Geo Vacation kayaker from Cape Cod

Amy Wife of Geo

Tucket Vacation kayaker,

Geo’s best friend, from Nantucket

Maryanne Wife of Tucket

Lieutenant John Glanville Coast Guard

Miguel Miami Little Havana Drug dealer

Chatter Miami Little Havana Drug dealer

Ruiz Brothers Mexican drug cartel

John Winston Simonton III Treasure hunter

Skip Treasure hunter

Scar Treasure hunter

Wave Runner First responder

Jake First responder

FBO Florida Keys kayak outfitters

Mr. Jinx Former New York Mafia Lawyer

The 47 Retired Marine, Navy, Army,

Air Force Special Ops

Hurricane Rescue Team

Reflections

This novel and any succeeding novels written by myself,

in aspects, have been and are influenced by the following

(and other’s) in different ways;

Ernest Hemingway, Robert Ludlum, James Michener,

William Shakespeare, John Lennon, and Neil Young.

They introduced to me what, in my mind, matters in writing!

-----

Hemingway introduced to me that part of it needs to be

‘hard’ truth and part of it needs to be story

Ludlum introduced to me pacing and suspense

Michener introduced to me the importance of

storytelling and how details matter

Shakespeare, a poet ‘Bard’, introduced to me squinting

at History, Colloquialism, and ‘Puck.’

Lennon, both singer and poet ‘Bard’, introduced

to me versatile insight and piquant

Young, again both singer and poet ‘Bard’,

introduced to me calmness and impact

-----

A statement that resonated to me by Ernest Hemingway

was, Just finish the damn thing!

-----

Unbeknownst to all of them, they collectively

have led me on a journey!

I can only hope to touch the surface of what all these

authors have brought to their audiences.

A profound and humble thank you to all of them!

KK

8000 BP

(Before Present)

Prologue

A brilliant sun was rising over the eastern central plains of North America. It was going to be another blistering hot day again. The times were rough. Warm mornings would soon transition into an extremely hot and dry day, only to become slightly cooler during the evening when the sun went down. The megafauna, mastodons, saber-tooth cats, woolly mammoths, and bison—the extraordinary creatures of the time—were becoming perilously close to dying off. The plains were waking up. All of them were becoming restless. Fewer in numbers, there was a fear of being chased, scarred, or even worse, eaten. Their instinctive senses were quickly being awakened to face the new day—another day of kill or be killed.

There was a migration of sorts going on from the area we now refer to as the Midwest. Since the beginning of this last Ice Age, the Wisconsin ice age was stubbornly, ever so slowly releasing its grip on the surrounding lands. Millennia, centuries, and decades have been pushing these magnificent creatures further and further in a southern direction.

The year is 8010 BP (before present). The Wisconsin ice age, last of the major ice age epochs, has been abating, withdrawing, releasing its grip of the surrounding lands since 20000 BP when it was at it greatest influence. This ice age had created a bridge of sorts for migration of Siberian people and animals—prehistoric camels, horses, lions, and such—to migrate across the Bering Sea land bridge, Beringia, into North America. Years, centuries, millennia have passed. It started to become warm, but man and animals have been instinctively driven to the south.

A small band of men and women have been traveling south for the past five years. The Midwest was a nightmare of extremely hot temperatures during the day and uncomfortable temperatures at night. Even though the Ice Age was stubbornly retreating, every couple of thousand years, smaller Epochs of a few hundred years each, ramped up the warming spell. This was one of those times. It was an altithermal period of time. This band didn’t realize this would go on for the next several hundred years.

The alternate extremely dry and semirainy times of the year were going to be a disaster to life in their area. Dry conditions would eradicate the grasslands they lived in. Floods would erode away anything indicating their existence. The small band was smack in the middle of one of these resurgences. There were no children with them; they numbered in only five now. Several children had died from exposure, lack of food, or became food for animals two, three, four, or more times their size. On a daily basis, man and animals were trying to only survive. Each ate each other, depending on the circumstances of the day.

Constantly on the go, the small band was just feeling their way in a direction that seemed to be instinctively leading the animals. Although this seems counterintuitive to follow the same animals that would think nothing of taking one of their band, they also had to follow so they could get their occasional chance to prey on some weaker animal. In between they would forage for whatever nourishment grew around them. There was no record kept as to what was okay to eat or not okay; it was up to a select person of the group to try and remember which was okay to eat and which was not. However, as they were moving through new territory, it was only by chance to know what was safe or not. Many of them had died from eating either rotten flesh of an animal or eating some berries, which were ultimately toxic.

Recently though, there seemed to be some relief from the miserably hot nights and extremely hot days. After wading or swimming through frigid glacial ponds, swamps, streams, rivers, and sometimes, small lakes, there seemed to be a change in the temperatures. There were three major draining systems, rivers if you may, which were fingering through the West, the Central Plains, and the Ohio Valley Region. The waters were not as violent here. The surrounding lands were greener, and trees kept their leaves longer. Animals and birds, which they’ve never seen before, became more abundant. Animals ranging in much smaller sizes grazed carefree through a savannah-type environment.

Daytime was warm but not nearly the constant oppressive kind they experienced just a year ago. Days were resplendent with a comfortable glow of the sun. Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, life became not so threatening. Megafauna, which were to be feared on a daily basis, were still a threat but the increased diversity of wildlife provided diversion from themselves of being preyed on. Deer, turtles, opossum, rabbits, and squirrels were easily hunted. These smaller creatures allowed them to not put themselves in harm’s way as much as they used to do to survive. They could chase, corral, or snare these smaller creatures without the probability of being hurt or eaten by other predators. There were, however, some new threats, such as alligators, snakes, bobcats, and panthers.

One day they came upon a vast expanse of water, larger, more expansive, seemingly infinite into the horizon. Shades of blues, greens, and turquoise filled their vision. Brilliant white sands stretched out as far as they could see. Sand that was different than any they had previously seen. It would not be for a couple of thousand years later that the Florida coastline would look like it is nowadays. Upwards of forty to fifty miles on the Gulf side of Florida was all continental shelf of beach sands. It had always been a problem around bodies of water they had previously encountered; the edges of these bodies were extremely hazardous with mud. They had lost several of their clan to these conditions. Now, before them were wide expanses of beach sands. There were unusual creatures wandering the beach. Strange creatures washed up on the beach. They spent one night out in the open, out on the beach. They woke up in the middle of the night two feet deep in water. This stunned them. Tides. Moving water was not new to them. Rivers had moving water. They hadn’t experienced this before. However, they were not bothered by this tidal phenomenon. Not knowing the process of staying in one place for longer than a day or two, they kept moving.

Recently, the animals were not moving south much anymore; they seemed content where they were. The band however kept pushing on along the beach terrain. They followed the shoreline, sometimes through tidal pools, sometimes across a narrow isthmus. They came across beach middens, occasionally, but didn’t recognize them for what they were. They didn’t realize there were eyes peering out through the surrounding thick everglades. They didn’t know how or when to stop. They were entering rich fertile grounds; black earth covered much of the land other than the beaches. They were entering rich tropical foliage never seen before, uncommon animals and birds of fantastic colors. Critters were seen jumping out of the water.

At one isthmus crossing it was observed that the water seemed to have a cloud moving inside it. Some distance away from them, along the shoreline, they observed a catlike animal halfway submerged in the water and lunging this way and that, at what was unknown. Just then it came up with something in its mouth. Chewing and biting furiously, it soon retreated to the shoreline. It sat and started devouring its catch. The oldest of the band decided that maybe there are eatable things in there. He waded in and felt the critters swimming past his feet and ankles. He too started to lung at the moving objects. Believe it or not he caught one. He came up with a mouthful of very salty water and spat it out. He had one of these swimming creatures in his hands.

Flapping around with all its might, it squirted out of his hands onto the beach. Everyone gathered around but at a safe distance. The second oldest of the band crept up and speared the wiggling creature with a spear-like stick in his hands. At the end of this stick was a bifacial, flaked stone tied to it. This would, millennia later, be described as a Folsom point. It had replaced the longer fluted, heavier, Clovis point spear their ancestors had used. These early Archaic Indians were making small improvements to what their Paleo-Indian ancestors had used. The creature now just lied there. Reluctantly, he kneeled down and picked it up. He looked at the animal down the shoreline; it was savagely biting into the critter and swallowing it. He decided to do the same. Just like the animals on land, there was a thick skin of sorts covering its body. They had learned that once one got past the hide or fur there was a fleshy material that sustained their existence.

This was different; there was a scaly rubbery surface. He used his fingernails, which were very long, and dug into the surface. Little bits of shimmering flakes covered his hand, while others fell to the beach sand.

Soon the fleshy part appeared. He bit into the thing. A taste totally different than he’d ever experienced came forward, slightly salty but mild. There were small needlelike bones, unlike the animal flesh they were familiar with. There was none of the red blood they were accustomed to. A smoother, softer texture melted in his mouth. He bit again and handed it to the one who caught it. He too bit in, handed it to another until they all had eaten. After a few more trips into the water and catching some more of this newly found prey, they all had finally had their fill. Satisfied with the result, they crept off into the brush and slept.

For some reason they stayed. Their constant movement and migration ended. For nearly a year they moved around the lush tropical forest. Sustenance of land and water creatures as well as berries provided a rich, diversified life—one they had never known before. The lack of huge predators gave them a false sense of contentment however. Storms came, with lightening and thunder more powerful than had been seen or experienced before. Shelter was only achieved by hunkering around a large tree.

One day that second year, they all noticed the horizon bringing huge ominous dark walls of clouds. Lightning and thunder was building to a roaring crescendo. The wind was picking up to the point that they couldn’t stand up anymore. The beaches were rising to the middle of the higher land they were wandering on. Soon they were all standing in two feet of water. Higher and higher the water rose. All were now waist deep, then chest deep. They did not comprehend what could be happening. Unlike the times they were challenged by some beast where they could run or defend themselves, they were all frantically trying to move their legs, fruitlessly trying to move to higher ground. Flashes of memory reminding them of some of the tar pits they had seen, with huge animals stuck, floundering, and whaling. The sounds of pure frightening yelps, grunts, and screeching roars echoed from past memory in their ears. Deafening sounds of futility. Here they were, experiencing a similar reenactment, but this time it was they who were in the grips of death.

A new environment, one that had taken care of them for the past year was in the blink of one short period of time, wringing the very life out of them. They had seen death before and quickly realized they were in that same grip of death, although different than what they’d seen before. There was no remorse or second-guessing, worrying about tomorrow, their clan, or anything else other than the raw knowledge they were not going to survive this.

The land they had wandered into—rich fertile grounds, beaches made up of brilliant white sands, a place of refuge, a place kind to them, a place which had given them some peace for a short while—was now claiming it’s victims just like every other place they’d been.

Little did they know, millennia into the future, they would be found! Discovery of their fossil remains and the spears they used would change the historical record of the Florida Keys. It would show that there once were people here in the Keys that had come from the Eastern Central Plains of North America.

Present Day

Friday, July 27

Chapter 1

Florida Keys FKNWR, West Content Key

Hey, Geo, Tucket yelled.

What’s up? Geo shouted back.

Where are we now? Tucket asked.

I think we’re just about to the Content Keys, Geo said.

How far did we do today? asked Tucket.

I think it’s been about fifteen miles today, said Geo. We started the day over at Sawyer Key, went south up through Cudjoe Channel, wandered around Budd Keys, got some shots of the ‘Fat Albert’ blimp on Cudjoe Key, then started back up north past west Raccoon Key. I’d say we are about a half mile from West Content Key.

Tucket was distracted with a frigate bird, circling around.

You hear what I said? shouted Geo.

Yeah, said Tucket. Get a load of how graceful that friggin bird is.

Tucket, it’s a frigate, not a friggin, said Maryanne, Tucket’s wife.

Hey, Amy, I now know I’ve married a moron, said Maryanne jokingly.

Maybe so, said Amy, Geo’s wife, but he still seems to be trainable. Are we camping on West Content Key tonight, Geo?

That’s the idea, Amy, said Geo. We’ll see if we can find a sandy spot, up above the high tide mark.

Yeah, Amy said, that wasn’t so smart when we first set up camp down on West Harbor Key and found ourselves in half a foot of water in the middle of the night.

Just a slight miscalculation of tide times, Geo said sheepishly. It hasn’t happened again, has it?

Can’t wait to get the fishing gear out when we get there, Tucket said. Looking forward to another fish fry tonight.

Maryanne said, Yeah, we’re getting to the end of our trip. I can’t wait to uncork that Madeira and also try out that lime vodka we got back in Key West and make some poor man’s margaritas.

What a life out here. Paddle, sightsee, catch your lunch and dinner, watch a great sunset, wait for the infinite universe of stars to show up at night . . . it doesn’t get much better, said Tucket.

Geo, looking down at his Orca compass, said, Let’s head a little more due north to the west side of west content. We might find the best opportunity for beach on the north side of the key, facing out towards the gulf.

The four of them had developed a very close relationship over the years. Tucket and Geo were each other’s best man, and Amy and Maryanne were maids of honor for each other. Geo and Amy lived on Cape Cod in Dennis Port while Tucket and Maryanne lived over on Nantucket. Aside from living in different homes, they literally did everything together. This is the fifth kayaking trip they’ve been on together over the past seven years. This trip has become one of their highlight trips. Warm days, warm evenings sleeping under the stars, catching seafood and cooking out on the beach, beautiful sunsets, millions of stars at night—it has been outstanding. Soon, things were going to get a bit out of control though.

I can see a lot more surf up ahead, said Geo. Let’s single file it from now on.

The four of them formed a colorful mini flotilla in their sea kayaks of sea green, bright yellow, mango, and azure blue.

Make sure your deck stuff is firmly tied down, and let’s get our skirts on. We’re in for a little bit of an amusement ride.

Maryanne, make sure your paddle strap is on firmly. We don’t want to have to chase your paddle down again, said Tucket. Maryanne was probably the least proficient paddler of the group.

Geo said, Amy I’m going out first. Follow to my left. The waves are going to push us beachward, and I don’t want us collapsing on each other. Tell Maryanne to get her rudder down firmly this time.

Amy reflected on the countless debates floating around about skegs versus rudders. Skegs, like a rudder on a sailboat, were dynamic and sleek but take up room inside the kayak when retracted and thus reduced the storage space in the rear of the kayak. Rudders, on the other hand, when retracted, took up deck space on the stern of the kayak and allowed for more storage space in the kayak. However, a wet’ ingress into the kayak becomes more difficult. When approaching the kayak from the rear and using the stern deck to climb up on, the rudder could be in the way if it were up.

Okay, said Amy. These seem to be a little bigger than we’ve seen.

Geo said, Yeah, the shelf bottom dives down into the gulf much more quickly around here. The shelf bottom is not as shallow to lessen the wave effect. Remember when we over in Baha, Mexico. The ocean side was similar.

They were all trained and licensed as ACA instructors, but there are always tricky circumstances in areas you’ve never been in. Six-foot waves with a dominant period of nine seconds were not that bad, but going parallel to shore looking for a good spot of beach distracted one’s attention. The harder part will be the approach to the beach, the dominant period changed from undulating waves to breaking waves.

They were all now in the thick of things. Balance and keeping you center of gravity to the kayak was very important now. Dominant wave periods became breaking surf.

Geo made a motion with his paddle, pointing towards the shore. A brilliant white swatch of sand was looking good. Amy got the silent message and relayed the same back to Maryanne and Maryanne back to Tucket.

Geo gave a couple of right-side back paddle strokes to get his kayak nose pointed in towards the shore, then started paddling forward, perpendicular to the waves. As he approached closer to the shoreline, breaking waves were intermittently swallowing his kayak. Keeping his centerline balance along with alternating his paddle from side to side was keeping him on his shoreline target. With about fifty yards to go, things were going fine. His skirt was keeping all the water out of the cockpit. Twenty-five yards, twenty yards, ten yards, beached. He tried a few more strokes. Geo undid his paddle chain, unsnapped his skirt, and carefully propped himself out of the kayak, straddling the kayak in a sitting position then stood up.

He crossed his leg over and promptly had his one planted foot washed out from underneath him by a random rogue breaker. After an exhilarating soaking he regained his feet, reached over for the kayak, grabbed the front rigging, moved forward, and grabbed the front tug handle. He proceeded to drag his kayak further up on to shore, until he reached a spot just past the waves’ edges. He looked out at Amy, now coming in; she seemed in perfect control timing her paddle movements to the breaking waves. Piece of cake, he thought to himself. Amy was twenty yards out, and Geo decided to wade out to help her land.

Just when he was reaching for the front tug handle of Amy’s kayak, he caught a glance of Maryanne’s kayak tipping over. He glanced a little further out and saw Tucket furiously paddling towards Maryanne. She was now upside down. Just the bright orange belly of the kayak was showing. After what seemed like an eternity, he saw the bright yellow personal flotation device (PFD) of Maryanne coming up. Paddle flailing to gain control and get back to an upright position, now at about sixty degrees upright, Maryanne was laughing and hollering. A few more seconds and she was back in full control, riding the waves in.

Tucket was about thirty feet behind her shouting, Way to go, Maryanne! He was thinking about all the lessons they all had been through in a friend’s pool doing Eskimo rolls. The thought of all that chlorine water they swallowed never seem so sweet!

After another ten minutes or so they were all safely ashore. Sitting on the coral beach, they all just took in the moment. Staring out at the water, they observed the waves washing in, the brilliant blue green water, the sun sitting out to their left, and