As he walked, he thought about Steinbeck some more. How long had it been since he’d read Cannery Row? He thought back, realizing that it had been at least ten years. He’d read it first in grad school, simply because, as he’d told Hudson, reading Ricketts’s classic Between Pacific Tides had led him to the Sea of Cortez material coauthored by Ricketts and Steinbeck, and then to Steinbeck himself. But his interest in Cannery Row, both the place and the book, had at that time been only tangential to his interest in Ricketts’s scholarly work. It wasn’t until he’d moved there that he’d thought to read the book with a different perspective.

Maybe it was time to look at it again. After ten years, surely his perspective on Monterey had changed enough that his reading of the book would be more nuanced. And he hadn’t read anything for pleasure in, well, in too long.

He was passing the aquarium. Stopping, he turned and walked toward the members’ entrance at the rear of the building. Flashing his card, he walked up the stairs past the jellyfish exhibit, crossing into the main building via the walkway, and descended past the life-size orca models that were suspended from the ceiling as if they were flying. Then he entered the teeming gift shop, moving through the mobs of tourists looking at stuffed seal pups and dolphin calendars. The book section was at the rear of the shop, inconveniently nestled between the posters and a storeroom door. Fortunately, it was sparsely populated, and he had no trouble finding the well-marked display of Steinbeck-related material.

Picking up a copy of Cannery Row, a pile of which sat on the shelf, he made his way to the lesser-used checkout stand in the shop’s far corner. There he had to wait while an elderly woman, apparently doing her Christmas shopping, paid for half a dozen ocean-themed items. He briefly reprimanded himself for not simply going to a bookstore, and weighed the value of his member discount against the frustration of having to listen to the woman prattle on about how darling Victoria was just going to love her harp seal barrettes.

Then it was his turn. He paid, declined the offered bag, and exited the museum through the closer main entrance. He was so relieved to be leaving the tourists behind that he didn’t notice as he passed not ten feet away from his daughter as she made her way through the doors and into the main rotunda.

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 13

For twenty-three bucks, this place better be amazing, Caddie thought. She couldn’t believe it cost so much to get into a freaking aquarium. And that was with the student discount. She’d almost turned right around and left, but the thought of sitting in the house with nothing to do made her stay.