my father is a halibut

My father is a Halibut  we lived on a small island in the stream  a ferry boat took us into town  on one such a day on our way to Houston  my father wordlessly jumped overboard the ferry shipper stopped the boat and looked, but there was no sign of him I had the heavy task to break this news  to my mother, who walked into the kitchen to compose herself The noise from the kitchen sounded like repressed laughter of relief. Since my father was officially missing  she was still married to him, but she found work on the mainland as a waitress  Five years later, two fishermen caught an enormous halibut that looked human  aghast, they threw the fish overboard  The story appeared in an angler's mag to my mother, she was not surprised  she said, your father was addicted to sex I still try to work out what she meant