Our Pet, "Fire"

"Fire" joined the Lawrence family tree on the day that my friend, Melinda, held a clever carnival style birthday party for her twins. Her backyard was loaded with games like the bean bag toss into the clown's mouth ( no, not an actual clown), a cake walk, and the ping pong ball toss into the empty fish bowl. Wait. Are those goldfish in water-filled plastic bags the prize? Oh no, did my kids just win 4 of them?

It was true. We were going home with four sweet? cute? goldfish that I secretly hoped wouldn't live past the drive to their new abode. Admittedly, there was a side to me that was excited for the kids. After all, they were our family's first pets! We rushed off to Petsmart to get all the necessary items, and I picked out the cheapest plastic fish bowl on the shelf (knowing it was unlikely they would survive past a week). After the four fish were placed safely in their newly created habitat, we fed them. None of them seemed to know what to do. They didn't notice the little flakes floating above, and I'm not sure they ever did, as the food eventually sank to the bottom. The next morning, one of them, the smallest (katie), was floating at the top. I had prepared the kids ahead of time that their deaths may be imminent, so they handled the "flushing" well. The following day, Kate, the next smallest, died. I was wondering if it was the quality of the water (Arizona's H2O is not good) even though I added the drops of dechlorination. Or, was it the lack of food? Maybe the biggest fish was eating most of it. Believe it or not, on the third day, another fish, John, had expired and the largest goldfish of the group (Trevor) was left. Survival of the fittest had proven itself once again.

Which brings me to our one and only pet, "Fire." The kids decided to change Trevor's name a few weeks later. They never said why, but unknowingly, the new name suited the tough guy to a tee! Not only is he the color of flames, but he braved the chemical laden waters while outswimming and outeating his three opponents. He has been with us for 6 months and has found his way into our hearts, especially mine. I never knew this before, but goldfish have brains. When I get close to the fishbowl, he goes crazy as he swims back and forth with his mouth going non-stop...he wants some attention. He's hungry, of course. Two small pinches of flakes a day is not enough. If it's close to that time of day, he practically jumps out of the bowl to get noticed! It would truly bother me to flush Fire down the toilet at this point. On the day he loses his life, a formal ceremony in the backyard may be well deserved.

Until then, I am considering upgrading his digs to a self-cleaning/filtered tank. I despise cleaning that filthy bowl, and sadly, there's this side to me that secretly wishes he would accidentally slip down the disposal during the process.  Did I say he had worked his way into our hearts? I may have been exaggerating slightly.