My story “Exchange (A Coral Study)” is part of the November 2021 issue of Mermaids Monthly (currently available to subscribers).  I feel the love for this tail tale.  It originally appeared in Factor Four Magazine, my first pro sale, and since then has been read by Tina Connolly for her podcast, Toasted Cake, and reprinted in an anthology.  And each time, I get to tell my dad how inspiring is his friendship with his college roommate, Walt Krueger.  I took lots of creative liberties, but their meeting is the kernel that became “Exchange.” 

In an alignment of perfect timing, my parents got together with Walt and his wife over this Thanksgiving break, and Walt brought copies of his memoir for our family, hot off the press.  My dad dropped mine off earlier this week. 

South American Odyssey 1970 is an account of Walt’s five-month, post-college trip through South America, which started with him visiting my dad’s family.  He wrote some touching passages about his friendship with my dad, including that without it, “I might never have known the world as I have, through friendships, travel, languages, reading, and greater insight into the power of people to overcome the restrictions of nationalism and to work together to make a fairer and more just world.”  I assure you, my family was just as deeply transformed. 

What ripples we send across the generations…