#605 The Marriage of the Red Fish- Guadalupe Nettel
Guadalupe Nettal’s collection Natural Histories came to me highly recommended. With influence from Mexico, Paris and Montreal I expect a pretty broad spectrum of input in these stories. The opening piece is The Marriage of the Red Fish. A couple living in Paris is about to have their first child. They live modestly and have a pair of Red fish to keep them company.
The wife, having left her job for maternity leave, has time for contemplation and notices a lot about these fish living in the same bowl. She gets books to learn more an realizes that they are an aggressive species and need more space. As she is more conscious of the fish, they seem to reflect the emotional ups and downs her and her husband are experiencing.
“You tend to learn a lot from the animals you live with, even fish. They are like mirrors that reflect the buried emotions and behaviors we don’t dare see.”
In the aquatic equivalent of her husband sleeping on the couch, she puts one of the fish in a second tank. The human couple also separates briefly causing even more emotional turmoil. In the end neither the fish, nor the couple survive living together.
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