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here at first,” Rosa said. “You know he and Chris were friends. That’s how Frank came up here. Chris and Frank were in the Navy together. Chris can tell you about that. Chris!” she called without missing a beat. “Chris, Vejay’s here.”
    I heard the television go silent. Chris and a teenage boy I recognized as one of the Fortimiglio grandchildren walked into the kitchen. They both wore jeans and woollen shirts. It was the slack season for fishing, so Chris was home. It took only one look at the boy’s red, running nose to see why he wasn’t in school.
    “Chris, I was telling Vejay how you were in the Navy with Frank,” Rosa said.
    “That’s right.” Chris directed his reply to me. “I was going to make a career of it. I went in right after high school. It was okay, the Navy, for that time. But it wasn’t like here, where it’s our boat, our fish, our family business.”
    Chris took a beer from the refrigerator. “But Frank, it was different for him. He wasn’t like anyone else on the ship.” He laughed. His parents looked at him, slightly shocked, as if it were too soon to laugh about Frank. “The thing was that Frank really hated being on ship. I guess he didn’t think of that part when he signed up.”
    “It would seem to be a major oversight,” I said.
    “‘Join the Navy and see the world!’ Frank loved the ports. He was always the first off and the last back on ship. And he bought more stuff than any five guys. Not the normal junk either. He knew what he was getting. He’d study up while we were at sea. He really hated being taken. That’s how he got into studying up, see?”
    I waited for Chris to continue.
    “One time,” Chris said, “I think it was in Taipei, Frank bought a jade figurine. He paid a lot for it, and when he got back on ship he was showing it around and one of the officers had a look. He knew right off that Frank had been had. It was no rare yellow jade, like Frank thought. It was yellow glass! We all had a big laugh over that. Everyone but Frank. He was furious. If the ship hadn’t been pulling out, he would have hunted down the guy who sold it to him.”
    “But instead he started reading up on jade?” I prompted.
    “Right. He bought a lot of jade. And later, netsukes, you know, those tiny Japanese carvings, the ones with lots of little animals all on top of each other? They’re only a couple inches tall.”
    I nodded. I’d seen netsukes at the Asian Art Museum.
    “Anyway,” Chris continued, “Frank hated every minute he was on ship. I think he was actually seasick a few times. Of course, he wouldn’t admit it—the guys would have ribbed him to death. He got enough flack as it was. He was really a step above most of us. He was older; he’d been to college. He wasn’t just interested in the body count in every port, if you know what I mean.” Chris looked sheepishly away from Rosa.
    “Your mother said Frank came up here because of you.”
    Chris smiled. “Well, I wouldn’t put it that way. That makes it sound a little odd between us. No. After Frank got out of the Navy, I didn’t see him much. I shipped out again. Then after my discharge I’d go down to San Francisco when the fishing was slow.”
    “What was Frank doing in San Francisco?”
    “Drinking, when he was with me.” Chris laughed. “But you mean, for work? Nothing regular. He got jobs, stayed with them till he had enough money, then quit and travelled. Then he’d come back and find another job.”
    “Do you think he was smuggling?” I asked in a fit of inspiration.
    Chris considered a moment. “I doubt it, Vejay. He never had much money. When he came back from a trip, he usually had to sell some of his figurines to get by until he found work. And I picked him up at the airport once. He hadn’t shaved; his jeans were ripped; his shirt was a mess. I don’t think a smuggler would dress like that.”
    “Not more than once,” I said, laughing.
    “Time to eat.” Rosa put plates of