Chapters 17-21 Summary

At heart, Doc is a lonely man. Mack sees this quicker than others, watching the lab from his doorstep, hearing the phonograph music play, sensing he is lonely even when he has a girl inside. Doc knows the seacoast well, where every specimen is to be found. His only problem is reaching them when nature makes them available. He must be at a particular place at low tide to collect. Needing small octopi, he must drive five hundred miles to La Jolla's "boulder-strewn inter-tidal zone". Sea cradles like the same environment, so Doc can replenish his stock of them at the same time. Low tide is at 5:17 AM on Thursday, so Doc must leave Wednesday morning. He wishes he had some company on the long ride, but Mack and the boys are collecting frogs and three young women he knows work...