Sad News

This morning I woke up to Riker's crying. Sadly, his pet fish Dan (which Riker had less then a week) had passed away during the night and was floating upside down in his fish bowl.

Although I am not in favor of keeping fish as I don't like the idea of small & cramped "cages" for aquatic prisoners, I somehow had to take care of the funeral arrangements. This was because Jobina suddenly had stomach issues at the the thought of a dead fish . . . apparently it caused bile to form in her mouth and this was unpleasant. But I digress.


Anyway, I grabbed a measuring cup from the kitchen and gently I scooped up Dan's remains from his little cage (I mean bowl) and dumped it into the toilet. Then Riker and I both said a few words in remembrance of the little fish. After this was done Riker ceremoniously flushed the toilet and Dan went down to rest in the place where most fish end up.

It was a tender moment for Riker and without looking at me his emotion filled voice said quietly "I'll miss him."

"Yes, we'll all miss him," I replied.

"I'm just so upset . . ." Riker began.

"Yes, you are so sad because . . ." I tried to sympathetically interject with something comforting.

"Because now I have to spend another $5 to get another one!" Riker said bitterly.

I had been expecting a different reaction and to hear that he was thinking from a financial perspective about his loss almost made me chuckle out loud! But I controlled myself. I told Jobina about it afterwards and we both laughed heartily.

Rest in Peace Dan. Know that you will be missed, mostly because you costed so much. Adieu.