Our landlord, owner of the house on Alabama Hill, was Savior Papette, a commercial fisherman known locally as Captain Midnight. His wife Marie handled the house rental arrangements. They had lived in the house for several years until moving outside of town where their daughter Splendora could keep horses.

Savior was fully occupied by his fishing business with a “fleet” of three boats: Little Savior, Sweet Marie, and Captain Midnight. He came by the name “Captain Midnight” because, he claims, his boat stays out later than all the others. He became one of my Dungeness crab suppliers. More often I procured them at a waterfront fish monger who cooked the crabs and had them for sale in the early morning.

For years Savior had fished the sound and the waters up to Alaska. The Bellingham fishermen in their small boats regularly work these treacherous waters. Up there Savior had an encounter with an angel.