The Fish Candy

The farmers in the village of Fanoosak maintained a cohesive bond against the drifters, who lived in a nearby swampy island. In 1941, the Soviet Union invaded the Caspian Sea region and struck an immense fear on the villagers. The short-lived occupation left a trail of heartbreaks and devastation behind. A group of women and children sought refuge in the island and paid a big price for it.

The household of Mr. Chaloosi, Toutak, Sara, and their son Mazdak, escaped the invasion but not the trauma all around them. They adopted Parastoo, an orphan girl, on the first day of invasion. They also adopted Dara, an orphan boy, a few years later. Unfortunately, both Toutak and Sara perished in tragic ways.

The arrival of an aloof stranger, Sleepy Moe, to the village after the departure of the Russians didn't raise any body's suspicion. It never crossed their mind that a man's nervous breakdown over losing his wife and infant son could take him to dark places.

Mash Safar, the successful grocer of the village, who had a reputation of being stoic, stingy, and grouchy refused to let the incursion inconvenience him. However, the unexpected death of his wife unraveled him and brought his dubious past to the surface. It turned out that Sleepy Moe was his brother and Dara was his nephew. In a shrewd kind of way, he changed his newphew's name to deprive his brother from ever getting to know his son. He also put up a wall of denial to hide the true identity of his brother from the villagers.

In a strange and twisted way, Sleepy Moe found the body of Toutak in the island and made Sara's killer pay for his crime. What comes around goes around because Parastoo was the one who reunited him with his son. The villagers kindly looked after Sleepy Moe for over a decade. They also shetered his son.

I was born by the Caspian Sea, an area known to the locals as the North. My family decided to move to the capital city of Tehran when I was an infant. I completed my schooling in Tehran, although we frequently visited our grandma, especially during the summer recess. My sweet nana lived all her life by the Caspian Sea in the beautiful province of Mazandaran. The image of her kind face and her serene farmland are tatooed in my head. Even to this date, her angelic voice brings me a rush of happy memories. I am lucky to have the colorful scenery of the North as a permanent source of inspiration for my art works and writings.

After moving to the United States, I completed my graduate studies in the field of biological sciences. However, later on, I decided to change the focus of my study from microbiology to the human behavior. Thus, I pursued a career as a psychiatrist, and continued with that line of work up until my retirement.

I became fond of arts and crafts, painting, drawings, and writing lyrics in my adult life. I created a five-book series titled: Ali Baba's Book Series on Artistic Flags. I also released five-single song tracks under my artistic name, Caspean. The following singles became the favorites among my friends: She Got Too Much and Live It, Live It.

During writing a laboratory exercise compendium for a molecular biotechnology book, I realized that the fictional cases that I had created were entertaining to some of my friends, aside from their scientific contents. Thus, I decided to write my first fictional book, South Harbors Secrets. Both in the Ali Baba's book series and this novel, my goal has been to highlight, embrace, respect, and celebrate the diversity that exists among various cultural groups. I think despite all our differences, we have a great deal of similarities that could bring us together and bond us as a unit. My true belief is that we can do more and go farther together. Undoubtedly, life can become more meaningful and fulfilling if we work for a common goal collectively. I would like to make it my mission in life to use arts, paintings, lyrics, and writings as a means to convey these messages.