Fishy Situation

For her fourth birthday, Reagan got an aquarium and two fish, Aladdin and Jasmine. They both had grown rather fast, and they seemed to be doing well. They had even survived our two weekends away with automatic feeders, so we felt pretty confident that they were hearty and healthy.

Last Thursday was a particularly rotten day. Presley wouldn't nap, and I was exhausted. Basically, we were all cranky by that afternoon. I had just started cooking dinner when Reagan said, "Mama, look at Aladdin!" You guessed it--he was floating upside down in the tank. After gingerly explaining that he was dead, Reagan began hypothesizing about what had caused his demise. The only thing I could come up with is that I hadn't changed the water in the tank since our last weekend away. (Sometimes the weekend feeders can leave residue in the tank.) Well, upon hearing that, Reagan insisted that I clean the tank immediately so that Jasmine wouldn't die. Never mind that I was in the middle of cooking dinner, which was, ironically, FISH!

By the time Scott arrived home, I was covered in water from the rushed tank cleaning, and dinner was on the table. We had a few quiet chuckles about the fact that we were eating a relative of the departed Aladdin. When I prodded Reagan to eat her fish, she said, "The fish that was dead?" Oh, my.

After dinner, Reagan decided she would like to bury Aladdin (mostly because she wanted to dig). Of course, after he was securely in the ground and a short eulogy was given, she burst into tears and insisted that we dig him up and instead throw him in the trash. (I have no idea why, but we complied, since she was a bit distraught.)

On Friday evening, we again visited the pet store and purchased TWO goldfish (to have a spare), Jafar and Rajah, who cost us a total of 26 cents, including tax. (We went with the smaller fish this time, since the previous two had grown so fast.) For now, the fish seem to be healthy and growing. Of course, the pet store has a 14-day guarantee, so we can get our 26 cents back if they don't make it that long.