A fishing tale

       

The day after losing his wife in a boating accident, a New England fisherman answered his door to find two grim-faced State Troopers.

"We're sorry to call on you at this hour,  Mr. Wilkens,  but we have some information about your wife."

"Tell me!  Did you find her body?"  the man cried.

The troopers looked at each other.  One said,  "We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news.  Which do you want to hear first?"

Fearing the worse, an ashen Mr. Wilkens said,  "Give me the bad news first."

The trooper said,  "I'm sorry to tell you, sir, but this morning we found your wife's body in the Bay."

"Oh no!"  said Mr. Wilkens, overcome by emotion.  Swallowing hard, he asked,  "What's the good news?"

The trooper continued.  "When we pulled her up she had two five-pound king crabs and a half-dozen good size Dungeoness crabs on her."

   

Stunned,  Mr. Wilkens demanded,  "If that's the good news, then what's the great news?"

The trooper said,  "We're going to pull her up again tomorrow."