#181 The Fish and the Fisherman’s Deal

by Gerard Mulligan

The fish swam around the wooden boat and called up to the fisherman.

“And you sir, how do you do?”

The fisherman leaned over the side of the boat.

“Why fish, I am fine, sea is calm and the wind is low, have you come to eat?”

“Indeed, I am hungry,” said the fish. “And the worm does wiggle so, but I cannot help but notice the shining hook in the poor worm.”

“But you could nibble a little and it would do you no harm.”

“Alas, the same cannot be said for my poor father who took a nibble but ended up as someone else’s dinner.”

“Well, then, little fish, you must stay hungry.”

“And you too, fisherman, you will be hungry when you catch no fish.”

“This is true.”

“You sit in a boat full of worms and I swim in a sea full of fish.”

“If only we could exchange one for the other.”

“Perhaps…” said the fish.

“Perhaps…” said the fisherman.

“They are many a fish who did not lose a father,” mused the fish.

“Many a fish who do not know the dangers of a hook,” mused the fisherman. “And many a worm for a fish who brings the fish to the fisherman.”

“Indeed, the worm is juicy,” said the little fish. “I will swim below and tell the first fish I see of the juicy worm.”

“And when he comes and eats,” the fisherman said. “So, shall you.”

The fish turned and swam away.



Estha Vine is missing with a big bag of illegal money and her daddy wants them both back. Lynch, an old fashioned type of gangster and half thinking of getting out of the game altogether, has a hunch so he heads out to the desert town of Hallem where Estha's mother was born. Arriving at dawn, he takes coffee in the town's only diner and spins a thin lie to the waitress Eve about his car breaking down. As the day crawls on, he meets the array of misfits who inhabit the diner. He begins to probe their lives in an effort to discover the truth about Estha and reveals a mesh of wasted hopes, passion and corruption. All the while, one name comes up again and again, Movius, an old liar who sits in the diner drinking coffee all day but seems to be at the centre of everything. As day turns to night and the town crowds in, Lynch finds the case turns into more than just a missing person and discovers that he just might be in some real danger after all. And damn, it just too hot for that.

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