An Exploded Aquarium
A thing of great beauty and pride for the author is an aquarium stretching about six feet wide across described as a Disneyland for fish because of all the attention paid to accoutrement. Less attention was paid to caulking, however, and the silicon holding all that glass together against the pressure of all that water finally proves itself the weak spot with sound of a thunderous explosion in the middle of the night:
“Mum and Tram raced around the kitchen and found every single pot, pan, cup and bowl they could. Soon every container was filled with bewildered looking fish, who stared at me like angry hotel guests who’ve been sent outside when a fire alarm goes off in the middle of the night.”
Boat People
The author’s story begins with a desperate and horrific tale of being one of the “boat people” seeking refuge from the consequences of the fall of Saigon and the exit of U.S. troops from Vietnam in the late 1970’s. The story is filled with bad weather, modern pirates, sickness, exposure and a pervasive threat of sinking at any moment:
“The boat was so small that we were jammed into every crevice, corner and spare patch of deck. It was almost impossible to get downstairs into the hold, which was heaving with sweating bodies and the suffocating stench of old fish. Forty people had transformed this tiny fishing boat into a living, seething mass of human desperation floating in the Eastern Sea.”
Man Makes the Shoes
When it comes to being young and athletic, shoes are everything. Who you are is often based on what you wear and in sports, shoes are really the only thing you wear that ever matters. The author discovers the myth at the heart of this conventional wisdom: it’s not the shoes that make the athlete, but the athlete that makes the shoes:
“The best way to describe my teammates was by their shoes: three Reebok Pumps, four Air Jordans, and a Nike Max Lite. My shoes were called ‘Kind Lion’…They featured a lion running across the sides and were made of plastic and vinyl. The vinyl didn’t breathe and the shoes made my feet smell like three-day-old road kill that had been hit while eating parmesan cheese.”
The Sea Monster
A nice bit of imagery is used to describe one of the most terrifying moments in the youth of the author. It was a day like any other day spent on a second-hand dinghy passing the time fishing. And then, suddenly, things take turn unlike ever before. At first, the pressure pulling on the line feels simply like the biggest catch ever, but what rises to the surface is no fish:
"Joe screamed and instantly turned white. I spun around and saw an enormous flipper not three feet away from our little dinghy. It slapped the water and rocked the boat again, forcing two terrified little boys to wail and cling on for dear life. Then this bald, leathery head slowly emerged from out of the water and an enormous eyeball stared straight at me for a second, then submerged. It was a giant turtle, about five-foot long,”
