That One Time We Snuck Onto a Ship

Today, I’m happy to be sharing a short story I wrote called Katie’s Way Out. It’s featured in a new literary magazine, The Interstice Journal.

A fictional story based on real events, Katie’s Way Out is set in Tampa Bay in April of 1987, and follows two teenage girls who sneak onto a British naval ship one night. A coming-of-age adventure complete with bad accents, leather pants, and big hair. But underneath is something else: Katie and a young sailor talk honestly about grief, losses that go unpunished, and what it means to escape — or serve — systems that hurt you.

You’ll recognize that territory.

What I hope resonates, and why I wanted to share it with my readers, is the moral weight of Katie’s actions, all that’s left unsaid, and the surprising tenderness that’s shared between strangers. That’s where my story lives.

I hope you’ll give it a read. It’s free!

• If you’d like to read the journal online, click the link here.

• If you’d like to download a copy for yourself, click here.