Do You Know The Way To Matlacha

HEAT

Chapter 1 - Part 1

Matlacha

What brings 'Fill' to Matlacha - or more to the point possibly - why does Matlacha bring 'Fill'?

First of all the nickname 'Fill'. One would think that given his love of beer it would relate to drinking his 'fill'. Close. The nickname was given to him by his first real girlfriend. She would always encourage 'Fill' to 'fill me up' when passions were running high and the nickname stuck because his real name was Phil and his friends never knew that she really meant something else altogether. A little double entendre never hurt anybody.

Second - why Matlacha - well, very simple; he had discovered the place the year before while staying in Ft. Myers with friends and it was unique enough and blue collar enough to be of interest. You might even get a sense of what real Floridians do rather than what northerners do while vacationing there.

But if he was really being honest with himself, the place resonated with him somehow and he wasn't able to get it out of his mind. It was almost as if he was supposed to be here, as if he was needed here or Matlacha needed him here. Silly perhaps, but that is why he returned.

'Fill' was there to research and write a book on Floridian geology, paleontology and anthropology - in other words, a complete earths and peoples history of Florida, focusing on changes that had occurred and would occur due to 'global warming' - being a scientist it was something he was passionate about - the relation between the earth's natural cycle and man's contribution to that cycle..

Matlacha itself was a puzzle to 'Fill'- a matchstick of land sandwiched between the Florida mainland and Pine Island on the Gulf Coast just a hop, skip and a jump from Ft. Myers. It was had one main street whose function seemed to be to carry people through Matlacha either going to or coming from Pine Island and the mainland.

That said, Matlacha had taken advantage of this the same way the male cardinal did, it decked itself out in all it's finery hoping to attract attention, and indeed it did. The small buildings that line the main street of Matlacha have been painted all manner of vibrate and saturated colours - blues, greens, indigos, violets and the clapboard buildings themselves have been decorated with all sorts of psychedelic rendering of flora and fauna. It begs folks to stop, linger, take photographs and stroll aimlessly - and that's exactly what 'Fill' intended to do when he was not writing.

'Fill' had rented a small cottage right on the main street for 3 months and was looking forward to the stay and getting to know and really understand what made this little community tick.
"Fill' had spent some time searching the history of the little community and like any newbie, his head was filled with little facts (yes, he had his facts learned real good right now as Springsteen said) and anecdotes that seemed to define it:

a) the name 'matlacha'is a Caloosa language term meaning, 'water to the chin' - 'Fill' assumed this was due to the shallow channels between the mainland and Matlacha itself - one could wade them but in places the water could be up to your neck (chin),

b) it was originally home to fishing and squatter shacks until a bridge was built from the mainland in 1927 and then, as always, the money came,

c) the area around the Matlacha Bridge was made famous by Ft. Myers author, Richard Powell, in his book, 'Pioneer Go Home'. This book was made into an Elvis Presley movie called "Follow that Dream",

d) it is one of the few spots left in Florida where you can still get a glimpse of what it was like before box stores, Walmart, casinos and condos.

The businesses on Matlacha are either tourist related - various forms of art, food and drink related, marinas - or real estate. Anything else you either went to Pine Island or the main land.
Fishing was a huge recreational undertaking and there was a public wharf where folks young and old spend the day casting and retrieving among the pelicans.  'Fill' intended to finally learn the art of fishing and was hoping a local expert would take him under his wing.

Armed with all that info, 'Fill' checked into the Peach Palace (as his cottage was affectionately referred to by the locals because of it's peach colour) and after 2 hours of unpacking and organizing decided to take a stroll down the main drag to catch the sunset with his camera and  to see what the camera could see - as he always put it.

I can see for miles would be his answer - 'Fill' believed that there was no situation that could not be referenced and tagged to a song lyric - and he was born on the same day as Pete Townshend so that just sealed the deal right there.

He turned west towards the bridge and started walking, not even noticing Lou Karres across the street on a bench trying to staunch a terrific nose bleed and wondering what the hell was going on.