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which, ya jus’ calls ’em both Honey.”
    Goldie shook her head. “Andy, you’re going to give my sister a bad impression of Alaska fishermen.” She scanned the group. “Listen up, gentlemen, this is Godiva, she’s very influential. Her boyfriend is that famous TV Chef over there.” She gestured toward the barbeques. “So behave yourselves and maybe you’ll get a plug for wild salmon on his next show.”
    A clean-shaven member of the rag tag gathering held up his hand, pinkie in the air, “ Saumon Savage , is what he’ll call it. He’s the guy from Flirting With Food , isn’t he? I saw your daughter on his show, Goldie. I couldn’t believe it. A couple of years ago Chili was in my marine biology class at J-D High. She was one of my best students.”
    A quiet man in a frayed green slicker got off the bench beside the fishermen and presented himself to Godiva. “Say, I know who you are.” A beer bottle dangled from his hand. “You’re that gal that writes the newspaper column, I saw your picture in the Fishwrapper . You give people advice, don’t you?”
    “Yes! You’ve seen my column?” Godiva seemed surprised that he could read.
    “Rudy told me Goldie’s sister was coming to town. You two really look alike, but you didn’t have me fooled.”
    “Oh?”
    He pointed to her feet. “Goldie would never wear damn fool shoes like that to a salmon bake.” The other fishermen guffawed and pointed at the inappropriate footwear.
    The quiet man looked down at his own beat up rubber boots, took Godiva’s arm and gently pulled her away from the cluster of rowdy men. He had a pronounced limp. “Um, ya know, Miss G.O.D., I was actually thinkin’ of writin’ you a letter.” He looked over his shoulder to see if the others were listening but they were complaining to Red and Goldie about the low salmon prices this year.
    “Are you having trouble with a lost lover, Mr., um...”
    “Taku, everybody jus’ calls me Taku.” He looked at his boots again. “Nope, it ain’t exactly a lost love, more like a lost boat. I suppose you could say I lost everything I love, though, since I lost the boat. Busted up my leg so I can’t fish, lost the boat so I got no place to live. Lucky for me I got some nice friends. Rudy buys me a drink or two, Belle finds me a bit o’ work to do now and then and pays me way too much, this angel named Mimi lets me sleep in her storeroom, and the folks at the Glory Hole feed me real good.”
    “So, what were you going to write me about?”
    “Y’see, I feel like my life is over.” Godiva judged him to be 45 at the most. “I wonder if it makes sense to go back to Bellingham and try to find my family. Maybe my Mom’s still alive, or my Aunt Bea… Maybe my sister would take me in. Is it a stupid idea? To want to die where you were born? Maybe they’d just be pissed at me for not contacting them. I reckon it’s been twenty years.”
    Godiva fought the urge to give the poor soul a hug. “Taku, you know what I think? I think you need to sober up and stop feeling sorry for yourself. So what if you can’t fish any more? Your mind still works, your hands still work, and your legs seem to get you around. There are a hundred things you can do to feel useful. Go over there.” She pointed toward the bright glow of Belle’s red dress. “Give Belle a big hug and ask her to help you find a steady job.”
    Taku responded to the suggestion by swigging down the rest of his beer. He mumbled something unintelligible as he left Godiva and headed for the ice chest to get another.
    The drizzle was quickly turning to rain. Godiva dragged Goldie inside where the Crabgrass Revival Band belted out a bluegrass tune. She heaved a sigh of relief when Emily Pickle waved to her and introduced her around to a group of the social elite. The hot topics of conversation were the Juneau Jumpers’ Championship and the young priest’s murder.
     

SEVEN
     
           The sun went down at midnight with