Shall I tell you a little story? Once, during the Korean War, a maiden, when she was a young woman, had bought a whole fish to be cooked for her ailing father, who was a gentleman-farmer. The fish was rather big and heavy. This maiden became tired and waved her arm at an oncoming truck. She didn’t think to wonder who drove it because she didn’t care—the fish was heavy. She had no reason to believe that the truck contained English soldiers that came to assist in the Korean War.

When the truck finally stopped, a tall English soldier jumped out of it. This surprised the maiden. She had no idea. She meant to run away but was hoisted up in the air and put into the truck. With the fish and all, she was terrified. She had never seen an Englishman before and panicked because she did not know how to communicate with them. When she needed to get off the truck, all she could do was flail her arm and yell. Thankfully, the soldiers understood and dropped her off. Again, the soldier lifted her up as if she was a light parcel. Since she was slim, although considered tall for a Korean, she was easily lifted as if she was nothing. She never forgot the experience for she must have loved the feeling of being afloat. The lightness of being was not unbearable at all but liberating for her, which provoked one into thinking that gravity can be like a fetter.

When the maiden became older and had a daughter, who was not as tall but rather small and round, she told the tale to her child, and the child also never forgot the story. The child thought that her mother had a look of longing to be afloat again. But then the daughter wondered how big the fish must have been. This girl regretted not asking her mother what type of fish it was because the only kind of fish she ate was flounder, and she thought that she would have enjoyed eating it if it were a flounder. Thankfully, she discovered a restaurant called Passion Fish where she did eat the whole flounder. She took such a long time to consume it that the waiter snatched the plate away (they wanted her table). Was she upset? Yes, her chopsticks were in midair as they took away her plate. And when someone asked her what she was passionate about, her answer was, “I am really passionate about Passion Fish.” And yes, they gave her a strange stare.