Two "Fish" Stories: Both True

MARINA AND MR. FISH

Marina Moore, as a young woman, took rigorous office training from the highly conservative nuns of a major Congregation of nuns in Montreal.  The nuns, of course, are Catholic.  With these credentials, Marina entered the work world and rapidly rose to become a highly prized professional in office administration.

Early in her career, however, Marina came home from a brand new job the very same morning she had started.  Home was her parents' home where all of us lived, at 2264 Hingston Avenue in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a district of Montreal.

Had Marina been fired?  Not on your life.

Marina was not only smart, she was beautiful.  But also modest.

On the morning when Marina reported for her new job of secretary to the President, Mr. Fish, her new boss called her into his office with her steno pad to note down how he liked things done.

Top of the list for Mr. Fish was how he liked his coffee:  “With a kiss”.

Marina dropped her steno pad and walked right out.  And that was the end of Mr. Fish.

The story of Mr. Fish is a family heirloom.

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MARINA, FISHING ON BROME LAKE

Magnificent Brome Lake, Eastern Townships

In the early 1960s, we were out in a rented wooden row-boat when Marina, at one end of the boat, caught the granddaddy of all eels, a giant barbut with a head the size of a bowling ball, writhing with rubbery whiskers.

As the wriggly monster rose from the waves to peer over the edge of our row-boat right at Marina, who screamed, people in boats near us on the lake stood up to shout their instructions ... “Don't cut the line!  Row to shore!  Drag the fish to the beach!”

But Marina had already cut the line, relieved to dispose of her trophy, possibly the biggest monster eel ever seen in Brome Lake ....

Now, come to think of it, there's a lot in common with the true-life story of (real name) “Mr. Fish”.  For, whether Boss or Eel, Marina wasted no time cutting one or the other loose.

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