ALBACORA 37 



"Was that you catching a fish or was that a fish 

 catching you?" Howard said. I kept on walking. 



"That marlin sure pinned you easy," Lou said. I did 

 not permit myself so much as the hint of a smile. 



"Never mind. Genie," Walt said. "Next time you'll 

 probably pin him." 



I thought I would never reach the cabin. The men 

 could joke, but only I had been underneath that fish. 

 My body ached and my nerves were screaming. I 

 gathered all my remaining energy, and without looking, 

 I blissfully hurled myself onto the couch. Then I 

 shrieked. In some unknown reservoir of my body, I 

 found the strength to jump back to my feet. I stared at 

 the couch. Stretched out on it were five raw and bloody 

 steaks. One of the boys had put them there for defrosting 

 without bothering to notify me. 



It was almost two o'clock, and now that I had been 

 forcefully reminded of food, I realized that every- 

 one aboard must feel famished. With the sort of sigh I 

 had learned to master in the first years of marriage, I 

 abandoned my dream of peace, gathered up the steaks 

 and walked down three steps into the main galley. My 

 fiirst job was lighting the stove, a routine action back 

 home in New York but a remarkable achievement on the 

 Explorer, Secretly included in the design of the Ex- 

 plorer I suspect there must be a match-wetting device, 

 known only to Lou. At least I don't believe I have ever 

 seen a dry match anywhere on the boat. 



