All the Bay's Clams and All the Bay's Men

His best days and his worst days were his bay days, the ones he could not do over.

Peter Halstead digs clams to pay for his college education. He dreams of political grandeur, material wealth, and tremendous personal achievements. He scorns his buddies who have no meaningful objectives besides clam digging. They mock him.

The summer of 1969 on the Great South Bay, Long Island, New York is the setting for Peter's misadventures, which push him away from Clayport, his first love, and his friends. Vietnam, Chappaquiddick, Mets' Baseball, Woodstock, Bob Dylan, and Joe Namath are briefly mentioned failures and triumphs which channel Peter's life's choices.

A forty-year high school reunion brings Peter back to his home town. Egotistical as ever, he plans to showcase himself, his partisan record; instead, he is ignored. He discovers non-ambitious former friends have had productive, enjoyable lives. His first love has traveled the world. Classmates rise to give a standing ovation to a professional clam digger.

He sits alone, sad, and depressed.

A crumpled napkin steers him toward uncharted love. No longer restrained by logic, he makes compassionate, unselfish choices, altering his remaining days on earth.

Peter writes this pensive memoir, hoping his future will have more purpose than before.