The Magic Minute

 By Harriet May Savitz                         

   9^th Happening

             “A great idea?” asked the Fish together.  They all stared at the Moray Eel.  Not one Fish moved.  Not one Fish spoke.  Not one ripple stirred the waters.

            The Moray Eel savored the attention he received from his audience.

            “We must declare WAR!”  The Moray Eel’s voice echoed across the water and set the waves in motion. 

            “The Whale Shark moved forward and asked, “What is WAR?”

            “I never heard of WAR,” said the Electric Eel.

            “Neither did I,” replied the Armored Catfish.

            The Moray Eel had never heard of WAR either, before this Magic Minute when he seemed to know much more than he ever had before.  He suspected LOWER DOWN had delivered the information and the great Idea.

“WAR is a big battle,” said the Moray Eel.  It is a fight, but a bigger fight than any of us have ever known before.

“Is it bigger than the fight I have to get my food?” asked the Whale Shark.

“Much bigger,” answered the Moray Eel.

“Is it bigger than the battles I fight every day to survive,” asked the Armored Catfish?”

“Much bigger,” answered the Moray Eel.  “WAR is a fight to the death by many against many.  Someone has to win.  Someone has to lose.  Think of the biggest thing you know.  WAR is even larger than that.”

“What do you have to do to have a WAR?” asked the Blue Shark.  He didn’t mind a good fight, but a WAR sounded much more than that.  It didn’t sound like something you could settle easily.

“You have to hate,” said the Moray Eel.  “That is essential when you fight in a WAR.  You have to be angry.  You have to do anything y you can to win.  You have to destroy.  You have to kill.  And you have to use weapons.    We will form an Underwater Army.  We will go to WAR against the TENANTS.  ”

There were those in the gathering who had their doubts, including the Black Swallower.  “The TENANTS can think all the time, not just during a Magic Minute,” said the Black Swallower.  “They have hundreds of ideas every day.  We just have this one.  Maybe it will not be enough.”

The Common Puffer also had something to say.  “The TENANTS can talk all the time, not just during a Magic Minute.  Hundreds of words come out of their mouths.  Every minute.  Every day. We can only speak in this Magic Minute.”

But the Whales, the Eels and the Armored Catfish shouted the doubts away.  “We can win,” they yelled.  “We are strong.  We are  unbeatable.  We are to be feared.”  They felt the power LOWER DOWN had given them during this Magic Minute.  They looked forward to WAR and to victory.

An older Mackerel moved forward.  A salt water fish, one of the most valuable food fishes and one of the most beautiful with its shades of blue and green, she had mixed feelings.  Her enemies were the Sharks and Bluefish, Whales and Porpoises, and though she was accustomed to a good fight for her life, a WAR was a different matter entirely.  “I have not said much,” she told the listening audience.  “But now I must.  I have heard things about the TENANTS that you should know.  The TENANTS know a lot about WAR.  They fight them all the time. They have had two World Wars.  In World War 1, over 3,000,000 Tenants died.  It didn’t stop them from having World War 11 when 16 million TENANTS died.”

“Who killed them?” asked the Angler Fish.

“They killed each other,” answered the Mackerel.

“For food?” asked the Angler Fish.

“For land.  For ideas.  For everything.”

“Why don’t we just let them keep killing each other?” asked the Electric Eel.  “They seem to be doing a good job of it.”

The Trout also was uncertain.  A fresh water fish and an important game fish who put up a good fight when hooked, and a greedy eater himself, the Trout enjoyed a good fight when hooked.  He was used to being at the end of a hook fighting a fair fight for his life.  Being part of a WAR was quite another matter.

Even the feared Sting Ray had his doubts.  Though he carried on his tail a fearful poison and was not reluctant to use it when necessary, engaging in a WAR did not appeal to him.

 But those who had their doubts did not want to stand alone, and since there were so many others who felt differently and wanted WAR,  they too joined the Underwater Army.

Along with the Tropical salt water fish, like the Squirrelfish and the Yellow Tang and the Rock Beauty.  Along with the Tropical Fresh Water Fish like the Jewelfish, the Flame Tetra and the Moonfish.  They put aside their doubts.  Even the Siamese Fighting Fish who were reluctant to be part of a WAR.  But eventually each of them decided he didn’t want to stand alone, or to be thought of as a coward.  It seemed much more comfortable to be part of the Underwater Army.

“The TENANTS must be good at WAR,” said the Angler Fish.  “They have so many of them.”

The White Shark pushed the Mackerel aside.  “I do not know what a WAR feels like, but I am willing to try it.”  The Shark caused the waters to swirl about him as he moved quickly in a circle.  “We know the TENANTS must be stopped.  LOWER DOWN is on our side.  And we have the Magic Minute.  What more do we need?”

But the Moray Eel could not stop the questions.  When one was answered, another surfaced.

“How do you begin a WAR?” asked the Angler Fish.

“How do you end it?” asked the Common Puffer.

Something was missing in the group, the Moray Eel realized.  Something essential to WAR.    This was not going as he hoped.  Too many doubts lingered.  Questions and more questions kept popping up.  What was the sense of having a great idea, if he couldn’t do anything with it?  If he didn’t succeed, he would fail LOWER DOWN.  He might never be sent another message again.  Everyone would remember him as the Moray Eel who had wasted the Magic Minute.  He went to LOWER DOWN for help.  “They need to hate the TENANTS,” the Moray Eel told LOWER DOWN as quietly as he could without the others hearing.  “They do not hate enough.  They have to hate a lot to go to WAR.  Help me make them hate.”

The Moray Eel waited.  It did not take long.  The mood of the crowd of Fish began to change.  The questions stopped.  In their place, the Moray Eel heard shouts, “Fight.  Fight.  Fight.”  He could feel it around him.  What he needed to go to WAR.  Enough hate at last. LOWER DOWN had answered him.

But blocking his way to the beach was a Walking Fish who now stood in front of the Moray Eel and the Underwater Army.

“Get out of the way,” ordered General Moray Eel.  “We are on our way upstairs to do WAR against the Tenants.”

“That is why I am here,” said the Walking Fish.  “It has taken me a long time to reach you.  I am very tired.  I have just come from upstairs.  The MOLLUSKS are on the beach in DEEP THINKING.  They have received a message from HIGHER UP.”

The Underwater Army grew silent.  HIGHER UP sent important messages.  HIGHER UP had sent the FISH messages.  They were different messages than those sent from LOWER DOWN.  HIGHER UP always seemed in a better mood and left the FISH feeling better also.

General Moray Eel felt the shift in the Underwater Army.  He could not afford to have the FISH think too long about the message HIGHER UP had sent to the MOLLUSKS or why the MOLLUSKS were in DEEP THINKING.  He knew if he was to keep his title as General, he had better do something quickly.  One couldn’t be a General without an Army.

“We will get the MOLLUSKS to join our Army,” shouted the Moray Eel.  “This way, we will become twice as strong as we are now.”

That seemed a very good idea to everyone in the Underwater Army.  They followed the Moray Eel upstairs.

When they reached the beach, they found the MOLLUSKS in DEEP THINKING, just as the Walking Fish had told them.  The Moray Eel faced the DEEP THINKING Sea Turtle.   The FISH made enough noise to get the attention of all the MOLLUSKS.

“Join our Underwater Army,” said General Moray Eel.  “Come to WAR with us against the TENANTS..”

“Peace,” said the Sea Turtle.

“Love,” said the Octopus.

“Hope,” said the Squid.

“Trust,” said the Jellyfish.

“Friendship,” said the Conch.

“Understanding,” said the Tusk Shells.

“Respect,” said the Star Fish.

And then the MOLLUSKS sang a song that filled the beach with harmony.

General Moray Eel and his Underwater Army did not know what to do with the singing MOLLUSKS.

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