Summary

The short story “Serrusalmus” by Lesley Glaister presents Marjorie, a middle-aged woman who suffers from agoraphobia and who prefers to spend time in her apartment. Marjorie watches people from the window of her nineteenth-floor apartment and imagines they look like busy ants. She recalls an event from her childhood, when she became fascinated by a formicary she saw in a zoo. 

Because of her condition, Marjorie avoids meeting people. She keeps an aquarium in her apartment. She has different species of fish, but she mostly prefers Russ, a new fish of the genus Serrusalmus. Marjorie envies the fish, who live in their safe world, and thinks about a young man called Mick. The young man was sent to visit her as part of a community program but soon be...