A Fish Out of Water, Literally

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Last Friday, a good morning phone call got me out a bed and as I do every morning, I check on the pets to make sure they made it through the night. So I’m standing at the fish tank and I noticed that a fish was missing.

I did not see it on the floor so I got down on my knees to look into the tank because I’m positive it has to be in there, no way that big fish got out of the tank! Confused as to its whereabouts, I looked even harder and noticed that another fish has the look of a child who just broke something.

This fish looked so suspicious that I started questioning it.

“What did you do?” No answer. He just hid behind a plant like he either saw what happened, caused what happened and wasn’t going to tell me what happened. He did favor one side of the tank though and seemed very interested in something on the floor. I turned to where he was looking and this is what I found 5 ft. away underneath a chair!!

Now I was still on the phone, my mouth is moving but no sound was coming out. It’s like that dream you try to scream in, but can’t. I disconnected my phone call and then I had an episode!¹

I need to find out who was eating rice under that chair!

How did this happen!! The tank has a lid and while there is a small space at the back of the tank, I assumed a fish would need the precision of a heart surgeon to maneuver that opening.

I was so upset that morning and not only because I woke up to a dead fish on the floor, but that my floor is not as clean as I thought. Just look at him, he had all kinds of trash on his body: a blue string, some hair and two grains of rice!

Even though I worked a smile or two in this post, this YouTube clip is how I really feel. It’s going to take me a few days to get over this one. Every time I look at that spot on the floor, I will think of Sylvester. I recently heard something on the news about medicine for depressed dogs and I thought how insane, now I’m wondering if it comes in fish form.

Fishography:
Sylvester X, 5 yrs. old approx.
Date of Death: July 25, 2008
Cause of Death: High Jump
Movie: Co-starred in Fish Food Fight, Netted over 75,000 viewers
Sylvester is survived by a host of other fish, friends and onlookers. In lieu of sending worms, eat chicken.
Favorite quote: “The glass is not always cleaner on the other side.”

EDIT:
Kat wrote a poem in the comments that made me smile. Thanks Kat!

1. I screamed like a girl! [↩]