An Epilogue: The Legend of Fatty Arbuckle

Our reporter, Stanley Tetra, sat down for an interview with Fatty Arbuckle's owner, Cari Heelan, just one day after the death of the beloved molly.

She remembers the first cries, like the sound of a thousand sirens all sounding at once.

"They're attacking Fatty! Please help!"

It was all over so quickly, Heelan said, but her fish was brave to the end. "Fatty never made a sound. She had such a calm expression on her face."

The waiting seemed interminable. "Whenever Fatty quoted something, it was usually classical, but I'm so ashamed of myself. All I kept thinking was that line from the poem -- 'Hope is this thing with wings that roosts in the soul.' I kept thinking, Oh, God, if she can just live, I'll do anything for her for the rest of my life."

It was not to be. Less than an hour after the battered fish was placed in isolation, her heart stopped.

"Now she belongs to the ages," Heelan said, "but I want the world to know what a wonderful fish she was, and how much she loved the community around her. She brought such a special grace to the aquarium. There will be great fish again, but there will never be another Fatty."

Heelan thinks of Fatty's children - Gozer, Chubby and Bardo, who are still so young.

"Now, we must do what we can for her children. I want them to grow up to be good fish. I want them to experience the world, but I must provide a shelter for them when things happen to them that don't necessarily happen to other fish."

More than anything, Heelan is haunted by the might-have-beens.

"Fatty was special, and I know she saw something special in me, too. I guess I should have known she was magic all along, I did know it, but now I know it was asking too much to dream that I might have grown old with her and watched her children grow up together. So now, she is a legend when she would have preferred to be a fish."

Editor's note: Fatty Arbuckle was laid to rest this afternoon at the National Cemetery with just family and close friends at graveside.