Meet my....Fish?

Josh-Josh-Josh-J-J-J-Joshhhhh (it’s a song),

            You may have already heard this directly from the source, but I am going to tell you anyway because I am EXCITED J J J Guess what? I got FISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it is now officially a party on the eighth floor! If you didn’t know, mom got me a fish tank for my birthday. The rule in Regents is NO PETS except fish; therefore, I immediately wanted one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.

So, here is what we did! We went to Walmart (for the twenty eighth time that week) and bought a tank that has a changing colors light, some pink and blue rocks, some plants, an awesome/creepy/flirtatiously-winking starfish, a fish net, and some tropical fish flakes (they smell bad, don’t try to eat ‘em). I had to wait two whole days for the tank to be ready before I could go buy the fish, but when it was time I was EXTREMELY excited. After waiting for an incredibly long time, this tall, skinny guy who had never caught a fish in his life came over and I told him EXACTLY which tiny fish in the tank of 37 fish that I wanted. 45 fish-chasing minutes later, I left Walmart with three neon fish (pink=girl, orange=boy) and another bigger tetra fish. I gave them the Murray tour and let them loose into their brand new home.

Top to Bottom: Sam, Wythe, Unfortunate 1, Unfortunate 2

I named one of the neon orange fish “Sam” because it had a red face, so it looked kind of embarrassed. In Spanish, sometimes people accidentally use the word “embarazada” when trying to say they are embarrassed, but really it means pregnant. Sam is pregnant, so my fish was named “Sam”. It makes sense, I promise.

I named the larger tetra “Wythe” after George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson’s mentor. He was an incredibly intelligent man that mentored two presidents and a bunch of senators and famous people. We studied him in the Presidential Fellows meetings. I named the fish “Wythe” because he was bigger, therefore older and, obviously, wiser. Well, let’s just say, DON’T JUDGE A FISH BY THEIR WISENESS!

Poor Sam. This was the only good
picture I got before he was
swallowed!! Notice the rosy face.

I didn’t even get a chance to name the other two lovelies because Sam died! Just stopped moving! He was floating at the top of the tank with that awful dead fish look in less time than it takes to read the Sparknotes for Pride and Prejudice! So, I went to take out the trash, and when I came back? Sam was gone! Completely gone! And wise ‘ole Wythe was looking quite a bit chunkier.

NOT. COOL.

See? Pure evil. 

Well, with quite a bit of disbelief and shock that Wythe would do such a thing, I thought maybe Sam had just zapped away, but the next day? My other orange, nameless fish was gone, too! And that one had been alive!! So, I snatched Wythe out of the tank and took him back to Walmart. I told the lady that Wythe was a PESCETARIAN (she looked at me like I was nuts), and got two new fish in exchange for that hater. It all turned out alright though because the two new fish really got along with my other fish. They were three musketeers right off the bat.

Survivors! They did NOT get swallowed/
voted off the island. 

I am proud to say that two (ish) weeks later, I am the proud owner of two little glow neon fish. I feed them almost every day. I smile at them a lot. I trained them to follow my finger, and I think they really like me. We may have lost one or two or three or four fish in the process, but I think two fish is the perfect number for me!

Fish-lovingly yours,

Maddie 





P.S. Do you have any suggestions for names? My two little survivors are still nameless, and I don't think they appreciate it.