Over the canal twice

Crossing the greasy green Gowanus last night around 8pm, I heard a plop below in the water. Like a fish leaping, or, more likely, one of those legendary Carroll Gardens flipper babies coming up in search of prey. Ditch-delivered by a drab, don’t you know; Double, double toil and trouble/Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Then, returning through the Valley of the Shadow around 11:15, a couple on the Union St. Bridge seemed to be trying to launch a model sailboat into the dubious murk of the canal. Considering that they were some ten feet above the water, they seemed reluctant to drop the little windjammer in.