Mehrzad approached Peter at recess with the eternal question, “Did you catch something?”

Peter replied with a slanted nod.

Mehrzad continued,”I think I might need some fertilizer for my garden. Do you think I could fish on your canal?”

“It’s not my canal. .. Sure.”

“Great. I’ve been saving up for a fishing pole. … Do you ever catch anything else?”

“Sometimes.”

“Like what?”

Peter hesitated, then answered, “Koi. I think there are catfish in there too.”

Mehrzad had not heard of koi, but he didn’t want to admit that. He was getting out of his depth, so he decided to stop asking questions.

A couple days later, Mehrzad watched Peter reel in a big grey carp. Mehrzad then asked Peter if he could watch what Peter did with the fish. The boys got up and walked to Peter’s house, walked around the side to the back yard. Peter then dropped the fish on a board, walked into the garage and returned with an axe, which he used to promptly chop up the large fish. He then took the board over to what appeared to be a compost pile, and mixed the fish into the stew.

Mehrzad noticed a pond in the garden, and wandered over to it. He spotted a large, red-orange and black fish in the pond. The red-orange and black patches interplayed in the shaded pond to give the impression of underwater flames.

Mehrzad asked across the yard, “what kind of fish is this?”

“It’s a koi. I think they call it ‘hi utsuri’ in Japanese.”

“You speak Japanese?”

“No. I’m Chinese. Well—I mean, I don’t really speak Chinese either.”

“Wow. … Where’d you get it?”

Peter hesitated, then admitted, “the canal.”

“Hey. I can’t wait to get a fishing pole now!”

“I don’t know if there are any more.”