Tango Key
The Mystery
Nothing on this island is what it appears to be.
That’s the first rule.
A darkness against the deep blue waters may be shadows, a trick of the light, or a black water mass that is nature’s wormhole, a portal through time.
The total silence of a wooded area may be just the absence of nature’s voice or it could be the stealth of a woman bent on revenge.
The random draw in a tarot deck may suggest a need for caution or could be a killer’s business card.
Category five could be Mira’s worst nightmare or the fury of the perfect storm.
Or both.
For psychic Mira Morales, Tango Key is a powerful point in the planet’s energy grid, a place that she calls home, and a conduit of high strangeness.
The Myths
Tango Key is steeped in myth and its myths run the gamut - a Big Foot creature that roams the wilderness preserve, certain buildings that are haunted, UFO sightings, buried treasures that date back to the days when pirates wandered through the Caribbean. Sometimes, a thick fog rolls in across the shoals at the north end of the island and usually precedes sightings of dolphins and mermaids swimming together. Then there’s the black water mass that forms every few years off the coast of Tango, nature’s wormhole, a time tunnel – if you know the secret of navigating it.
On Tango, the inexplicable is business as usual.
The Lay of the Land
Tango Key lies 12 miles west of Key West, floating like a green pearl in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It’s connected to the rest of the Florida keys by a bridge that was built in the mid-1980s. You can also get there by car ferries that leave from Key West or by small plane.
The island’s geology is a complete anomaly. To the north, where the town of Pirate’s Cove is located, there are rolling hills, even a few dramatic cliffs. Anyone who has ever visited the keys knows there isn’t a hill anywhere in sight, that the islands are as flat as envelopes. But I wanted to create a place where I would enjoy living and that meant a diverse topography.
The southern part of Tango Key, home to the town of Tango, is flat and caters to independently owned businesses. No Wal-Mart, no Office Depot, not even a Starbucks. The Tango Pier, like the Key West pier, features street performers every evening - trapeze artists, escape artists, fire eaters. But you won’t find tacky t-shirt shops here.
Tango Key has about 5,000 year-round residents, a number that quadruples every winter when the snowbirds arrive. Real estate is expensive. The cost of living there is high. But for Tango Fritters, as the residents refer to themselves, it’s worth it to live in paradise.
