encouraged by the dark , the faint sense of intimacy engendered by the exchange of names-or simply from a need to talk , after so long-she told me about her mother , who had died when she was twelve , her father , a crabber , and her life in baltimore , wading out along the shore at low tide to rake oysters and gather mussels , watching the fishing craft and the warships come in past fort howard to sail up the patapsco .