fish

Until last year, 1993 was the last time I'd gone to the Elyria Apple Festival. I was in 8th grade, and won a goldfish at one of those games where you bounce a ping pong ball into a fishbowl. For many years, it had no name, and I simply referred to it as "Fish" (in my "fish voice"). I forget why, but when I was in college my mom decided Fish was female, and named it Francine.

Francine survived the arrival and death of another carnival prize goldfish, and even survived five days without food when I was in Disney World with my high school choir and mom forgot to feed her. Eventually she lost her color and grew to the maximum size allowed by the 10-gallon tank, about seven inches long from mouth to tail tip.

Last weekend, she was puffing up for some reason. It would go up and down, but by Monday she apparently was the size of a baseball. She was clearly hanging onto life by a thread, so my parents put her out of her misery. She didn't even really flop around when they removed her from the tank.

I didn't have a great emotional attachment to Francine, but it's still a little sad. It's remarkable that she even lived 15 years, considering she came to me in a plastic bag.

[fish voice]
Fiiish!
[/fish voice]