‘Ottawa’ Capital Voices: ‘The Crocodiles Like to Sing with Each Other’
In anticipation of Canada’s sesquicentennial celebrations, the Citizen’s Bruce Deachman has been out in search of Ottawans — 150 of them — to learn their stories of life and death, hope and love, obsession and fear. We’ll share one person’s story every day until Canada Day.
“This is a castle. The Giant Volcano Castle. It’s very, very tall. More than a mile tall. The crocodile lives there – Mr. Crocodile. He’s not dangerous; he’s very friendly. He likes having friends, and if he’s mean he won’t have any friends.
“There’s food in the castle. That’s where he keeps his fish. And in one part there’s lava. He doesn’t go there.
“The crocodiles like to sing with each other when they see each other. They really like to sing. They like to sing songs at church, and songs about sharks and whales. They like the sharks and whales, and they want to be a shark and whale, but the sharks and whales don’t like them, because they think that they’re mean. But they’re not mean.
“So then one day, they see the shark and they sing their song, and the shark likes their song. A church song. And then the whale comes and they sing the song about the whale, and HE likes it. And so they’re friends, and they come to the Giant Volcano Castle to visit them, and they all sing together and they eat fish.”
— Maria and Matthew Scarvelis, 10 and 5. Mooney’s Bay Beach, July 18, 2016.