Tales from Sandfly

Book excerpt: Tales from Sandfly is the experiences of Rusty Danforth, who comes to Savannah to start life over. "Adopted" by the locals of Sandfly, a nearby town where, while using the pub/city hall as his base, he becomes familiar with the "unique" lifestyle found only here. In chapters often funny, sometimes poignant, and almost always unusual he describes his new life. He meets the country songwriter who was abducted by aliens, the bartender and former gymnast who became an unwitting porn star, and the voodoo lady who split time between making baskets at the Piggly Wiggly and hexing people. He tells of customs and celebrations found only in Savannah, like the Tacky Light Tour, in which a trolley filled with "over served" tourists search for the most disgusting display of Christmas excess and have their pictures made for use as cards afterwards; Tybee's Beach Bum, the world's largest municipally sanctioned drunken water fight; and The Isle of Hope Patriot's Parade, which featured among others, a giant crab, midgets demanding union rates, and "The Scud Stud," astride an Iraqi rocket impacting into a bevy of "I Dream of Jeanie" look-alikes. Throughout, Danforth takes the reader along for misadventures, such as learning about dangers of drinking and karaoke by ending up in traction; being trapped under the bed of his best friend and wife on their wedding night; and the value of knowing interrogation resistance when arrested for dancing the tango in the street at three in the morning. The thread binding the chapters is the story of a man in a time of loss and uncertainty, who, through the help of good friends, a bit of luck, and maybe the help of the Lord, finds happiness and love that he never dreamed possible before coming to the small town of Sandlfy.