We were in the groove of setting traps, cranking along, right in the middle of a string (a line of 10 traps), when a motor boat sped up to us. At first it looked like he was going to pass by, but then at the last minute he veered toward us, like he was going to run us over instead. He held up a red bucket flailing it around for Cap to see. I thought he wanted to give us a bucket that he didn't have any use for. Then he put the bucket down and held up ten fingers, yelling "Can I have 10?" He wanted to buy lobsters from us.
We were kinda in an awkward position. Yes, we had lobsters, and yes they were for sale. It was a hard time to say no, even though it was an obnoxious request, for several reasons. First of all, he was interrupting our work. We had to stop what we were doing, turn off the pump to the lobster tank, drain the tank, pick out 10 lobsters and then restore everything in it's rightful place again.
Secondly, the request was just plain demeaning. It wouldn't be so unreasonable if he was a friend who came to meet us at the dock when we were done with work. But this man was a complete stranger and was clearly looking for a deal. He was well-aware that the lobster co-ops are where you buy lobster. He didn't even bother to make small talk. Cap, being the too-nice man that he is, charged the man a quarter over the dock price when he could have ripped the guy off. I would have charged much more for the inconvenience of the arrangement. We were both quite bitter about the encounter. The man forked over the dough and sped off just as abruptly as he had approached us.
Tourists.
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