TAKE ME TO THE RIVER — William Williamson

Henry Roberts, a native Conch from the Florida Keys drives to Northeast Florida for his first visit to the Macclenny Mental Institution where his older, twenty-one year old brother, Randy, has been a patient for the last four and half years.

Henry's visit with his brother brings back emotional memories from his sixties childhood in the Keys that was scarred by tragic events. His younger brother's horrific accidental death, the lengthy absence of his father, Jake, during his four tours fighting overseas in Vietnam before coming home missing his leg and his mother leaving the Keys for the mainland to have Randy committed to the mental hospital when Henry was sixteen. Sitting in the visiting room observing the other patients and seeing what has become of his brother, Henry is wondering if his whole life will be about loss.