This is a fish story…about a fish named Michael…and how he came to live in Johnson City.

It begins with a man named Michael, age 49, who lives at Down Home Ranch in Elgin, over on the other side of Austin. Michael’s pride and joy was his tank of tropical fish. He had learned to care for them, feed them, keep their tank clean, and generally keep them alive and healthy. But then he developed cancer, and ultimately decided he was no longer able to care for his fish.

So Michael gave the tank to his mother, Marcia, who lives in Fredericksburg, and asked her to find a good home for the fish. 

The Community Pre-School in Johnson City was the applicant Marcia chose for the tank, and the transfer was made. Within a few days it was in its new home in the entry hall at the school, right at eye level for two, three, and four year olds. But the tank held one new fish besides the original population.

The addition was an angelfish, bigger than any of the others. Further, the kids learned the angel was the only fish there with a name. Its name was Michael.

The students called Michael (the man, not the fish) on the phone and thanked him for the tank and fish, and told him about his new namesake, and how happy they were to have the fish in their school, and then they sang the “Baby Shark Song” to him (because it was the only fish song they knew, and they all knew “Baby Shark”). Close enough.

Michael was proud. His fish had a new home where they’d get good care, and would be visited many times a day by admirers, and the children would learn about fish and how to care for animals, and one of them carried his name, and he was happy about all of that. And because Michael was happy, Mom Marcia was happy. And of course the children and teachers were happy, too.

Actually, there was logic behind adding the angelfish and naming it Michael. Pre-schoolers would have a hard time remembering for very long who the man was who gave them their tank, but they can remember the name of the biggest fish in it. Any one of them can point out Michael.

And Michael is an angel.

Close enough.