THE NARRATIVE ARC

Working On the Waterfront in Kenai

A summer of salmon when the sun barely set in Alaska

Me standing in the woods in Alaska, 1991 — Photo by Jeff P.

I was standing in the hold of a fishing boat with salmon and icy water up to my chest. All around me, fish lay struggling, slapping their tails and eyeing me while I waited for a giant vacuum to plunge through the hatch above my head.