"Look," I said. "You want this boat? Keep it. I'm off for Tampa. It's about time I took up drinking."
"You hate me."
"No, I don't. Honest. I'm just not used to these things."
"It happens all the time. What you don't understand you hate."
"But I don't. Honest. And where did you learn to talk?"
"I learned English from a professor. He understood my plight and tried to help. He was fishing the same as you when I caught hold of his line and we met."
"What happened to him?"
"He went back to tell his colleagues. I never saw him again."
"He's probably in the booby hatch," I said.
"What's that?"