78 ALBACORA 



from sculpture to painting to teaching, but with Lou it 

 was different. He was completely single-minded. Our 

 paths crossed at Columbia where I was getting a mas- 

 ter's degree in fine arts and Lou was majoring in busi- 

 ness administration. We were both from New Jersey, 

 both had a more than transient interest in the sea, and 

 we were married not long after Lou had finished at 

 Columbia. We were certainly not rich. Lou had a small 

 real estate business and he earned just enough to keep 

 us eating. He worked late hours almost every night. 

 Lou is a wonderful businessman, and quite rapidly his 

 business began to grow. He was buying tracts of land, 

 putting in streets, building houses and selling them. 

 Often he took me along to see if my studies in art could 

 help provide ideas for decoration. Soon Lou was doing 

 well enough for us to buy a second-hand Chris Craft. 

 The fishing bug first infected us in those early days, 

 when moonlight fishing was satisfying in more ways 

 than one. It was romantic and it was cheap. A big thrill 

 for us then came on the night we caught a ninety-one- 

 pound shark, but the real transformation from normal 

 girl to dedicated angler occurred in the middle of a 

 party. 



It was on a Saturday night in the New Jersey sea- 

 coast village of Bay Head, and at the risk of absolutely 

 dating myself, I'll confess that I was making a minor 

 splash with an imitation of Helen Morgan. I perched on 

 the piano, and wearing my best black velvet dress, ges- 



