You’re right about the mutual attraction of the tattooed: hence my interest in the mixed marriage.

Now about the allegory. I was clumsy there. What I meant was precisely what Dawn said in the previous comment, that we can find a reason for everything, after the fact — but it’s better not to observe something out there in the world and say, “See! This shows…..”

So you ask, if that’s what you meant, then why didn’t you say it? I have no useful response.

That’s interesting about the tattoo folks. Most of the heavily-inked people I know are partners. Did you ever see that Japanese film, Irezumi, about tattooing? It’s a good one.

I seem to be having a banal comments day. Sorry.

Ruth (the Long Lost Girlfriend) thinks that I should have started looking for her after “Sharon.” But no. I waited and waited. But she and I disagree a little about the finally-reuniting business. I prefer the proximate cause, which is that I set out to look for her (finally). She prefers an ultimate cause, which is that we were meant to reunite. Since proximate and ultimate causes aren’t mutually exclusive, we can both be right.

You say this story isn’t an allegory, but it works beautifully as one even so. Along with your tsunami piece, it’s my favorite so far.

I was in Santa Cruz earlier this year, and I spent quite a lot of time on the pier staring at basking sea lions below, marveling at the sleek beauty of the pups and the comparative ugliness of the adults. I didn’t know that they steal from fishermen as they do, however, which retroactively explains the sea lion who followed my boat the one time I took a charter here in L.A. I caught nothing, and annoyed the crew by getting my line tangled with others on at least two occasions. There was a woman on the boat who was tattooed almost from head to toe, while her husband didn’t have a single tattoo, and pondering their strange union wasn’t ideal for the fishing mindset.

But I digress in my usual way.

And also: “The way I figure it, the world delivers up what it delivers up, and it’s the humans who drape meaning over it.” People are always saying to me, Everything happens for a reason, to which I mutter in reply It’s more that we can find a reason for everything that happens.

But then, you know, I read this story, and think about you and your long lost girlfriend, and I think … well, I don’t really think everything happens for a reason, even then. But I do think, some of the reasons we can find after the fact are nicer than others.

Matt’s Underwater Martial Adventures

“I attempted a fin-strike; he countered with a slash-bite….my fin was rubber and his was flesh and bone….”

Many possibilities. Could be very funny. Could be stupid. You can be in control if you indulge your foolish side. You do have a foolish side, yes? You must.

Then, with a quick letter transposition you could have “Underwater Marital Adventures.”

Endless possibilities.

Also, along the lines of how we all say things that cannot be the case (as in the Blood piece I sent you) and yet are always understood anyway, I note you wrote “I’d land two or three…” but of course you didn’t land them because you were underwater. Everybody who read it knew precisely what you meant! I love language perception. Zero chance of your being misunderstood, and yet it’s inaccurate.

I bet they’d taste bad anyways.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think they’re interesting animals, but damn can they be assholes. I used to go spear fishing when I was younger (line fishing always seemed like a cruel practical joke to me; more sporting to get in the water with the fish, and risk being eaten in turn), and I’d land two or three good fish….and then who would turn up but the sea lions? Always in pairs, too, one playing around in the water as a distraction while another came around to steal the catch of my line. Jerks.

So, do you pose as a drunk when you’re after monkeyface eels? Is there an eel called the shitfaced eel?

I have a history with Fish & Game, but not in CA. Check out my “.308 Winchester,” in the memoirs section. I probably made the Fish & Game guys look like a bunch of Rambos, which is unfair. One of the things we did was care for what was then one of the only remaining populations of the Hawaiian nene goose, seriously endangered. They were caged. One of my other jobs was to feed and water them, which I mostly enjoyed except for when I had to deal with the bad-tempered ones. As I remember, at one point around 1960 there were fewer than 50 in the state, and most of those were with us at Pohakuloa. Now there are hundreds (if not thousands) and they are back in the wild. Still endangered, but certainly on the upswing.

As I remember, the brother who raised leeches had a special permit from NY State Dep’t Environmental Conservation (that’s our Fish & Game) that allowed him to take road kill from anywhere, to use to feed the leeches. I never got a look at his leech operation, which I believe was in a swamp. I’d like to have seen it.