Spent time with my two of my
favorite ladies last week: Blythe, age 10 (almost), and her grandmother,
The Lady Karen. We met at a coffee shop halfway between Sacramento and
the Bay Area, where Blythe lives and where Lady K was visiting. They
brought gifts of licorice candy and a new best friend: a fish.
Oh but not just any fish, but a genuine tropical orange and purple ninja
fighting fish, called a Betta. The fish came with a combination ninja
dojo and bachelor pad water tank, a water filter, a light, some stylish fish
furniture and accessories, and enough food to keep the fish in fighting trim.
Thing is, it doesn’t have another
fish to fight. That’s a good thing if you want to keep your Betta on a long
term basis, but there are reflecting surfaces on the inside of the tank.
This way it can happily hurl threats and insults at what seems to be another
fish without risking injury and other fish mayhem.
I haven’t told the fish that it’s
only seeing reflection of itself and I don’t plan to. It might get
depressed and just sulk all day in a hidden recess of the stylish fish
accessories and be no fun at all.
There are other benefits to having
an active fish in an aquarium. For one thing, it relaxes me.
For another, I spend less time watching TV and more time watching the fish.
Unlike the TV, the fish doesn’t blab doom and gloom about the economy, reveal
the personal secrets of celebrities I’ve never heard of, or try to sell me
anything for $19.95 plus shipping and handling. I find that refreshing.
I have made one minor lifestyle
change now that the fish and I are roomies: I don’t make tuna sandwiches
where the fish can see me. That’s just good manners
-o-
Oh but not just any fish, but a genuine tropical orange and purple ninja fighting fish, called a Betta. The fish came with a combination ninja dojo and bachelor pad water tank, a water filter, a light, some stylish fish furniture and accessories, and enough food to keep the fish in fighting trim.
