Paul bent down and tossed menhaden and spot over the side. The shrimp haul was only forty pounds. Before the trip would cover fuel and salaries, they would have to make many such hauls. They put the shrimp on ice, saved two redfish to fillet for supper, and paid out their patched net once more. This time they brought up a shark, five stingrays, a sea turtle that didn’t make it through the turtle excluder device, and thirty pounds of shrimp. Etienne spotted a flock of pelicans and steered for them on the third pass, but when the net came up, there was a waterlogged timber and a ton of trash fish. A trawl board jammed Raymond’s hand against the rail and he jumped around the deck in a circle as if strumming a banjo.

That night, they rode out another squall, not as rough as the first. In the varnished plank cabin, they watched the lightning and talked in low voices about fishing and women. Paul asked Raymond about his hand.

“Hell yeah, it hurts, man. You lucky you some kind of left-hand relation or I’d sue your ass for mental cruelty.”

Etienne the giant reached over and pulled Raymond’s cap off. “You got no mental to be cruel to.”

The next day brought better luck, and by dusk they were tied up in Tiger Island, swinging off baskets of shrimp. Colette was in the office, tallying expenses on a Big Chief tablet and waiting for the payoff, which Nerby Billiot, the manager, handed to her. Paul saw her walk onto the dock and then stand next to a piling, trying to decide whether or not to jump down to the boat. He came out and stood on a hatch. “Did we make anything?”

She looked down at him with a little smile.

“I can tell it’s not much, but we’re not in the hole, right?”

“You cleared ninety-eight dollars, and that’s after I deducted fuel, ice, and labor for the next trip out.” She put the check for the catch in a pocket of her white cotton blouse.

“We can pay some on the light bill at your house,” he said.

“Nope. Replace that gear on the hoisting winch.” She crossed her arms and looked at the Saxon, running a red tongue back and forth over her front teeth.

Raymond asked her to take him home to Nan. He was dead tired and sunburned. Paul and Etienne rode the trawler down to the public wharf and tied up below LeBlanc’s Machine Shop, where they washed down and locked the cabin.