The Fishtank Testament

When a smart, self-sufficient man in his early sixties realizes that the most reasonable thing for him to do is get an apartment with his equally smart and self-sufficient mother, who is in her eighties and has rapidly declining health, he puts his own well-being and self-interest on hold to be her caretaker.

In this recollection, Miles Walker delivers an always-entertaining yet frank picture of his life in a government-assisted, low-income apartment building primarily inhabited by senior citizens. His status as one of the building’s youngest residents helps to keep him at a distance from others who live in the building, and he relates their activity and, at times, inactivity, with a keen voice. Whether it’s the daily scramble at the mailboxes and nearby fish tank or the antics of the jigsaw puzzle saboteurs, there’s always something to keep both him and his mother, Matil, entertained. But as Matil steadily weakens, Walker has to give up more and more of his own life.

The Fishtank Testament is a touching reflection of the expansive love Walker has for his parent.

Miles Walker has had multiple careers involving marketing of specialty software and product design, which included positions in small companies in upstate New York, Chicago, and the Pacific Northwest. He has been a director for the activities of a group of artisans and craft people in the prestigious Accent on Design section of New York's International Gift Fair. Miles currently resides in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York where he spends his remaining time in the humble pursuits of cooking and gardening. His amateur woodworking parallels a life-long interest in fine acoustic musical instruments where his occasional urge to work in thousandths of an inch finds relief.