- “That was a long ride,” said Mike as they dropped him off. “Thanks for driving, Agnes, Mort.”
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- “Not at all, Dad,” Agnes told him. “We loved having you with us. Thanks for hanging on to Rufus on the ferry. And thanks for not hanging on TOO tightly when Rufus needed to rescue Mallory, here.”
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- “Aw, Mom. Rufus didn’t have to rescue me. I wasn’t in any danger,” Mal protested.
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- “Grandpa, are you coming with us for the long picnic?” Mel asked.
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- “I’m not sure yet, my dear. Mort, did you mention that the pond had fish in it? It’s been a long time...too long...since I’ve last fished. Been meaning to reacquaint myself with the joys of feeding worms to the fish, now that I’ve got some time on my hands,” Mike said.
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- Why Fishing?
- Actually, Mike was beginning to feel the burden of too much time. Since he sold his software firm, he felt like he was drifting, not accomplishing anything worthwhile. That’s one of the reasons why he decided to fund these mini-expeditions for his grandchildren and their parents.
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- Mike had gotten a call recently from one of the executives at the company that bought his software firm. The manager talked about the possibility of hiring Mike as a consultant to help with installations at sites that were still using their old legacy systems. Many of their newer employees had no experience with “heavy iron” mainframe computers and Mike’s experience from his military service, where he first learned Cobol, would be very welcome.
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- There might not be much time for weekend fishing if he decided to do some consulting, as installing and debugging would need to be done during off-peak, non-business hours. Mike didn’t make much time for Mort when his son was young and regretted not taking him fishing more than the couple of times. He wanted to make up for lost time, not so much for Mort but for his grandchildren, knowing that Mort didn’t have the experience to teach his own children the joys of fishing.
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- “I’ll ask Al about the fish,” Mort promised.
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- A few days later, Mike got a call from Mort.
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- “Good news, Dad. Al says there should be plenty of fish in the pond. Actually, he likes to call it the “loch” rather than a pond, even though he’s Norwegian and not Scottish,” Mort told his father.
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- “That’s strange,” Mike commented.
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- “Not so strange when you hear the story. Why don’t you come over for dinner tomorrow night and I’ll tell the story to all of you then,” Mort suggested.
A Pond, a Lake, or a Loch?
- Over dinner the next evening, Mort started out by telling the family that his friend’s parents named him Alexander in honor of a relative who inspired another, more famous, relative, to enter law enforcement. That famous relative was Eliot Ness.
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- Mort made sure that everyone understood that the name “Al” had nothing to do with Al Capone, the legendary Chicago gangster that was brought down by Eliot and his team of government agents nicknamed “The Untouchables.”
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- “Anyway,” Mort continued, “”Loch Ness” may be more appropriate than “Pond Ness” because of a huge fish that some people say they have seen in the pond.”
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- “Lock Ness?” Mel asked. “What’s that?”
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- “There isn’t a ‘k’ sound in loch, dear. It’s like the ‘ch’ sound in the composer’s name ‘Bach,’” Agnes said.
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- “I knew that,” Mal boasted. “Isn’t there a Loch Ness monster or something?”
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- “That’s exactly the idea,” Mort said. “Their last name is Ness, they have a pond that has a big fish – or monster - in it, and the Norwegians have stories of lake monsters too. Pretty neat, eh?”
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- Mal could hardly wait until the Labor Day weekend at the beginning of September. Three whole days to hunt down a big fish! Neat!
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- “Loch Ness monster. Sounds pretty ‘fishy’ to me,” Mike said.
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 - LINKS: BOOK 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS
iNTRODUCTION TO BOOK 2
INTRODUCTION TO THE BIOFABLES SERIES
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