Bad Water and Other Stories of the Alaskan Panhandle is a book of
short stories set in southeast Alaska on an archipelago about the size
of Florida. There are not many people and most of them live in a few
small scattered towns. Some live in the more remote areas of the
thousands of miles of coastline and hundreds of backwater bays and
coves, making a living at whatever is available. Alaska is a place where
geography and weather dictate human behavior, and that could mean eating
the same dried beans, rice, deer meat and fish for a good part of the
year. With no freeways and little law enforcement (a 911call means
contacting the Coast Guard), people must learn to be self-sufficient,
especially in times of emergencies. Sometimes people make their own
solutions to solve problems. If a solution doesn't work and you're still
alive, it's time to try another! The folks that live in this remote part
of Alaska do whatever it takes to make it work. There's a freedom that
can't be had in civilization, but the price is high. These are their
stories.Tom Hunt and his wife live on a small island about a mile from
Ketchikan, Alaska. There aren't any cars or roads, so everyone lives on
or by the water. They've worked in construction, commercial fishing and
teaching. "We live in a cove named Whiskey Cove, a name from prohibition
days when Canadian liquor was sold to locals before it was transported
to town. The first paragraph of "Making Do" is a good description of
Whiskey Cove."
