If there was one person in the world Alvin could trust completely, it was Frank.
Nick's startled yell over the phone hadn't shocked Alvin too much. Instead, he was a little worried about whatever had made Nick yell...
Because when something unexpected happened, Frank's usual solution was simple and brutal...
Sure enough, just as Alvin was about to ask what had happened, a deep growl came from the other end of the phone. Then Frank's gunshot rang out, and the growl abruptly turned into the whimper of a startled dog...
About five minutes later, Nick excitedly shouted into the phone, "Alvin, you won't believe what I just saw!
A super bully dog taller than you..."
Alvin was so exasperated that he cursed at him over the phone. "Are you an idiot? You're comparing me to a dog?
Haven't you seen enough big dogs?"
Nick sounded like he was running at the other end. Slightly out of breath, he shouted, "This one's different. It's incredibly fat..."
As he spoke, Nick suddenly let out a yell. "Frank, don't kill her..."
Alvin, who'd been cut off, paused at the last shout from the phone, then shook his head with a laugh.
Her? Why was it a big dog and a "her"? Had the dog become a spirit?
Unable to figure it out, Alvin let the matter go. He emptied all the seafood Fox and Shirley had hauled up and smiled with satisfaction.
Abalone half the size of his palm, lobsters as long as his forearm, sea urchins as big as his fist, and all kinds of fresh shellfish...
As a half-baked cook, Alvin would be wasting these ingredients.
Especially when Old Cheng watched on video as Alvin roughly pried open a strange-looking geoduck, chopped it up, and tossed it in with the lobster