Shelby Raebeck

Louse Point: Stories from the East End, Volume 1 Shelby Raebeck

The stories of Louse Point explore the East End's unique tapestry of communities and the hamlets they occupy, from the African-Americans of Freetown to the fishermen of Lazy Point. The stories, each one named for a location on the East End, explore the vicissitudes of family and the deep divisions between local communities. Some characters are held back by circumstance and others by their own self-doubt, but all keep pushing tirelessly forward. In "Two Mile Hollow," two brothers, members of the East End's last remaining crew of haul-seiners, drive to their town's gay beach in search of a culprit, as they feel their livelihood and their town slipping away. "Lazy Point" features a twenty-something sister who prevails upon her twin brother to come back to Lazy Point, the last remaining hamlet for locals, to help save their parents' tumultuous marriage. In "Walking Dunes," a marine-like mother enlists her two teenage children to drive from Arizona to Montauk Point in pursuit of their AWOL father, who has returned to his hometown to work as a fisherman. In "Trapped," the friendship of two high school basketball players is torpedoed by a racial divide that they never knew was there. The world of Louse Point is harsh, unforgiving, forcing its characters to jettison their illusions, to move unprotected into an uncertain future.