End of a Season

Within minutes of being dropped off on the Spit I was invited to the Texan's birthday. Corwin wasn't there yet, just his tarp and driftwood teepee; but it wasn't really his birthday, just his last night in Homer. His birthday cake-- a six foot hole in the sand stacked with ten pallets-- was lit before he got off work, so by the time he showed up with a case of beer in each arm there were a dozen drunks arguing who was sober enough to drive the truck down to the docks for more wood. Tom Cod and Jackson, Kentucky and River, Danno and Joe Maze. The season is winding down, the gang is breaking up. Soon all that will remain is Joe's notebook of drunken quotations. It's a rough life working fish for beer money (Kentucky got himself arrested for "three hots and a cot") but my guess is, these Spit Rats will be back next year: "if it ain't broke, it's not broken."