Key West Consequences — William Williamson

As Henry Roberts, local Matecumbe author wrestling with his second Florida Keys novel knows, fish and company both can smell in three days. Henry's usual Thursday night writing routine has been disrupted by his step-brother Corky who has hitchhiked four hundred miles to deliver the news that the secret their mother has harbored for eighteen years is no longer a secret. They share the same father and he's living in Key West. Accompanying Corky is a young woman his age named Cat who he met two hours earlier in Key Largo. Corky wants Henry to take him to Key West to discover a past he never knew. Cat is running from her past.

After spending the afternoon into the late evening listening to Corky and Cat's adolescent hopes and dreams, the hot August air is getting hard to breathe. Henry is no stranger to the many reasons why people seek out a life in Key West. He promises both of them he will drive them there in the morning. What comes after that is out of his hands. His Cuban girlfriend, Finee was fond of saying Key West can be the harshest mistress calling to you. Her family risked their lives leaving Cuba by boat during the Castro revolution for a new beginning of family and freedom in Key West.