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with world-class anglers such as me?”
    â€œA kid went missing last night,” said Tony. “Wandered off with his dog while Mom was hanging out clothes. Dog came home when he got hungry, but the kid didn’t. So much for man’s best friend. Half the cops and civilians on the island hunted for the boy all night. They found him this morning about a quarter mile from home. People looking for him must have walked right past him a dozen times, but I guess he was sleeping. Anyway, he’s fine. Good thing it wasn’t cold last night.”
    â€œMaybe it’s something in the island air,” I said. “Imet a guy yesterday who’s looking for a missing wife. Does the name Bannerman ring any bells?”
    â€œSeems to me that some PIs were asking about a woman by that name a while back. We get missing persons reports every year. Some college girl goes off with one of the local Lotharios and doesn’t make it home by two, her roommates call the cops. She’s shacked up someplace, and finally shows a couple of days later, but meanwhile we all get stuck with an extra shift.”
    â€œGee, Tony, I never knew you read Nicholas Rowe.”
    â€œYou don’t know a lot of things, J.W. Anyway, the lost kid is home and I’m headed home myself to get some sleep. Not much happening at Wasque, you say?”
    â€œFive- or six-pounders. No big winners that I know about. I’m taking mine home so I can smoke them.”
    â€œWhere’s Zee? Even if you can’t catch any real fish, she usually can.”
    â€œShe’s home taking care of her children, like a normal wife.”
    â€œZee is not your normal wife. I’m surprised that she’s home and you’re out fishing. I’d have thought it might be the other way around.”
    â€œThe decision was a democratic one. She lost the coin toss. Tonight she’ll be out there on the beach and I’ll be home with the tots. You, of course, will be back on the street protecting and serving.”
    â€œWrong. I’ll be fishing tonight with your wife.”
    He walked away, and I went to the Dock Street Coffee Shop for a cup of coffee, then climbed into my old Toyota Land Cruiser and went home. There,behind the shed in back of the house, I scaled and filleted my fish and put the fillets in plastic bags. Then I put the bags in the freezer. Fresh bluefish is best for cooking, but, for reasons that elude me, frozen bluefish smokes better than fresh bluefish. It is another unsolved mystery of the sea.
    Inside the house, Zee was getting ready to go to work at the hospital. During Derby time, by dint of strategic deals made with nonfishing nurses, she arranged to keep working, but at odd hours and never when the tides were best. Once the Derby was over, she’d go back to normal shifts. Zee loved being a nurse, but had recently been wearing her I FISH, THEREFORE I AM T-shirt.
    She kissed me. “I’ll be back at six, and I plan to be at Wasque not much later. Don’t forget to pick up Brady and get him registered and bring him here. You’ll be the love of my life if you have supper waiting for us in a little cooler, so we can take it with us.”
    â€œIt shall be done, madam. I’ll include a thermos of coffee and another of vodka in case you want cocktails. When can I expect to actually spend some time with you again?”
    â€œIn about a month. Unless I land a sixty-pound bass, that is. If I get her tonight, I’ll quit fishing and stay home alone with you.” She looked up at me and batted her long lashes. “Of course, that means that if you want to stay home with me you’ll have to stop fishing, too. But you won’t mind, I’m sure.”
    â€œI’ll see you in a month.”
    â€œWhat a man. And they say romance is dead.”
    She went out and climbed into her Jeep and drove away.
    Joshua and Diana came in. “Pa, will you build us the tree house