The Magic Minute

 By Harriet May Savitz                         

                                          Sixth Happening          

            “We have a severe problem,” the message from LOWER DOWN began.  “It is bad and getting worse.  All of us have been aware of it for a long time.  The Tenants, who live upstairs, out of the water, have been making BAD NEWS and sending it down here.  They make too much noise upstairs.  They make too much garbage.  They make too much trouble.  We have put up with them for a long time.  Long enough.  We were here first.  Get rid of those Tenants upstairs.  Take action.  Stop this BAD NEWS.  Those Tenants are going to destroy themselves and take us along with them.  They must be stopped.  Immediately.”

            Of course the Moray Eel asked the logical question.  “How are we to do this?”

            LOWER DOWN had answered, “You will have unlimited power.  You will have the help of all the fish in the water.  You will have a MAGIC MINUTE.”

            It was not the type of message one could ignore, especially since this particular Moray Eel had never received a message from LOWER DOWN before.  And especially since there had been very few Magic Minutes offered during thousands of years.

            The Moray Eel was one of one hundred species of snakelike fishes found in the water.  He enjoyed his reputation as ferocious and could inflict serious bites upon his enemy.  Winding his way through the water, his ten foot long body seemed green, but actually his skin was blue gray.  It was covered with yellowish algae so he appeared to have a greenish hue. It gave him a fearsome look which he enjoyed.  Secretly, he would have enjoyed being a leader, to be followed down adventurous waters.  When he fantasized deep in the churning waters, he pictured himself the leader of many.  The only problem he had no one to lead and nowhere to lead them.  Until now.

            During the passing days, the Moray Eel thought of all the Mollusks and fish he could be eating for dinner.  Instead he had this problem to deal with and it was keeping him awake nights.  One just did not ignore a message from LOWER DOWN.

            Another message soon arrived.  “Call a Summit Meeting of all the fish.  Tell them they must take action.  Tell them they will have power unlike anything they have ever known during this Magic Minute.”

            “All the fish?” the Moray Eel asked, aware that some fish were food for other fish.  He could just imagine the eating frenzy that would take place if everyone had the power promised by LOWER DOWN.

            “During this Magic Minute, no fish need fear another,” LOWER DOWN promised, after listening to the Moray Eel gently express his concerns.  “There will be no enemies at our Summit Meeting.  Our only enemy is the TENANT upstairs.”

            The Moray Eel was a worrier.  There were over 30,000 different fish, tropical fish and salt water fish, the fish from the streams and those from the rivers.  How would they know to come?  Who would listen to a Moray Eel?

            But those doubts did not last long.  The Moray Eel felt changes take place within him he could not understand or explain.  Of course they would come; he heard a voice within him promise.  After all, the message had come from LOWER DOWN and the Moray Eel had been chosen to deliver it.  LOWER DOWN could have chosen anyone, the voice insisted.  The Moray Eel felt great confidence surge through his body.  And determination.  He had been given a job to do and he would do it.  He would become what he had always wanted to become.  A Leader.

            Already, the fish were on their way.  Word traveled quickly beneath the waters.  Nothing had been happening for a long time around them, and now something big was happening.   They all had something important to do.  They would be attending a Summit Meeting.  They had something important to decide.  About the TENANTS..  Nobody liked the TENANTS.

            Instructions kept coming from LOWER DOWN to the Moray Eel.  He barely had time to enjoy any of his usual activities.  One after the other, the orders arrived.  What must be said.  What must be done.  What must be accomplished.  The Moray Eel did not want to doubt LOWER DOWN or question him, but at the end of the messages, he wondered aloud, “It is a terrible thing LOWER DOWN is asking.  And I have been chosen to do it.  And I will always be known as the one who led the way if it is done.” 

            But then he thought how mighty he might become if he did as LOWER DOWN wished.  And if he succeeded.  Some might think it terrible.  But others might think it wonderful.

            As the Moray Eel waited at the deepest part of the sea for all the fish to gather, he felt more changes within him.  He did not like the TENANTS but now when he thought about them, he grew angry.  The more he thought about them, the angrier he became.  They had no right to cause such a disturbance.  They had no right to destroy the world as it had been known.  Who had invited them anyway?  He felt the need to strike out against them, to do something to let them know how powerful fish could be.

            “LOWER DOWN” is right,” the Moray shouted and his voice thundered from the deepest parts of the water.  “We will get rid of the TENANTS now.  All of them.”  It held such passion, that even the waves shuddered in the distance.

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