Our first reaction was to tap the glass. Then we banged on it. Finally we took both hands and shook the tank. Funny, each of us kind of went through the stages of disbelief in the same way.
This time though, we couldn't hide the news from the 5 year old. Whereas we were able to shield her from the death of her birthday present by buying and replacing the fish without her notice, our realization of the second death happened right in front of her.
The poor girl burst into uncontrollable sobs. Never mind the fact that she'd ignored the fish for weeks. Once this fish died, it became her favorite pet.
Walking around with that tank filled with yucky dead fish water and a limp Captain II, we all worried she might let that gross water spill all over the floor. She'd set it down on the coffee table as close to the edge as possible and look at her fish. "Is Captain laying down or dead?" she asked me a few times.
Through those tears came a silver lining to her sadness. The rest of us now know what Santa is to bring the distraught little girl: a girl fish. Plus, our household has a few weeks without caring for something that we feel doomed to die. Because after these two deaths, we've become jaded with owning a beta fish.
No comments:
Post a Comment