vegetables. He thanked me when May and I finished
setting the table. I decided to make civil conversation. "I still don't understand how you fish for
lobster," I said standing nearby and watching him grill
the fish. "You don't need a pole?"
He laughed.
"We don't fish for them exactly. We set traps at
the bottom of the ocean floor and attach buoys that
float above."
"How do the other fishermen know which trap
is theirs and which is yours?"
"Each lobster fisherman has his own colors on
his buoys. We're using the same colors my great
grandfather used. They sort of belong to our family,
like a coat of arms or something. Understand?" I nodded.
"After we bring up a trap, if there is a lobster in
it, we measure it with a gauge from its eye socket to
the end of its back. An average lobster runs anywhere
from two to five pounds. My father once brought up a
trap with a lobster in it that weighed over thirty." "Thirty!"
"Yeah, but someone else trapped one closer to
forty last year. Lobsters with eggs on their tails have
to be thrown back in immediately. We have to do all
we can to keep up the supply. It takes about seven and
a half years for a lobster to grow to decent size." "Seven and a half years?"
"Uh huh," he said smiling. "Now you know
why we grow and harvest cranberries, too."
"Is this what you want to do for the rest of your
life?" I asked him.
He nodded.
"You don't want to go to college?"