Dock Square, kennebunkport, Maine 207.967.9989 494 Stevens Avenue, Portland, Maine • thehoneyexchange.com • 207.773.9333 • 10-6 Tuesday-Saturday • 10-2 Sunday unique gifts, mead, wine, and beer all natural line of skincare products explore our honey tasting bar observation hive & hobbyist beekeeping “This is my new favorite spot!” –Everybody 494 Stevens Avenue, Portland, Maine • thehoneyexchange.com • 207.773.9333 • 10-6 Tuesday-Saturday • 10-2 Sunday unique gifts, mead, wine, and beer all natural line of skincare products explore our honey tasting bar observation hive & hobbyist beekeeping Come watch local honey being harvested! • 630 Forest Ave Portland,ME 04101 • 800.773.4154 • www.phoenixstudio.com • Custom Designs, Restorations and Repairs, Windows, Doors, Lighting, Kitchen and Bath, Fusing, Painting, Sandblasting, and more... Custom art glass for any application. Fiction D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 7 1 1 1 ful small-town nook turned its atten- tion from the local economy. Corpora- tions infiltrated the small towns like a sea of fleas. People no longer went to mom- and-pop country markets and local de- partment stores to get their goods; now it was WalMart and Best Buy. As the indus- trial invasion took grip of his small town, Dwayne and his family suffered. While fast food chains like McDon- ald’s and KFC became prominent, business for The Great White Whale began to sub- merge. Dwayne tried everything, includ- ing a change in business model that saw the restaurant transform from fine dining to a chat-n-chew style more convenient for cus- tomers and easier on Dwayne’s checkbook, but it was all for nothing. Business contin- ued to plummet, dropping fathoms deep- er to a few dedicated regular customers. Dwayne ran his body and his funds to the very bottom, hemorrhaging money–near- ly filing for bankruptcy–just to keep his dream alive. T hings were even worse in his per- sonal life. Dwayne’s physical and mental health began to de- teriorate from working through years and years of stress. He divorced his high school sweetheart Charlotte, the moth- er of his two sons, Mark and Ahab. Mark moved away from home immediately af- ter graduating from college to start up a prophylactic delivery service in Canada. Ahab stayed home in hopes he might help his father with his business. That brings us to today, Dwayne’s 55th birthday. Dwayne stands alone in the kitchen of The Great White Whale, working on a fresh batch of chowder for himself after closing up after a deadly New Year’s Day. His son, Ahab, walks into the kitchen from the din- ing area with a certain look on his face. Not happiness, but satisfaction. “Well, Dad, that’s another season in the books.” Dwayne picked up a ladle and sipped some chowder. “This is my last season, Ahab. I’m handing the reins over to you now. You know cooking and business–I only know cooking. Where this industry is heading, you’re better suited here than I am.” Dwayne threw the keys to Ahab. “You got this.” n