A Fish Tale

Chase won a bingo basket at school last year that had a fish tank and a $20 gift card to Petsmart. So off we went to Petsmart and picked a fish, food, stuff to go in the tank etc. It was quite fun to get it all set up and watch the fish. He picked a dark blue one with a little red and named him Achilles.

It didn't take long for Justin to want one so he got one with his own money. He picked a red one and got a tank and all the stuff that goes with it. He named his fish Phin.

The boys have had fun watching them and I enjoy them too. I had a blue one when I was in high school. How he came to his end is a story for another day. when Drew and I got married with had a fish tank. I kind of missed having fish around. I don't love having to clean the tank but for the most part they are easy pets to have.

Both Phin and Achilles have very distinct personalities and eating habits. When we went on vacation this summer we left them with the neighbors and I just laughed when I was telling them about the fish ending with just feed them twice a day and don't worry about it.

Well last week Achilles started not eating. I did a little research and really wasn't too worried it seems that Betta's do this sometimes and can go up to a month without eating. He has a little hidey hold he likes and he has been swimming pretty much acting normal. Last night I decided I need to check on him and well lets just say he is now in the big pond in the sky. I felt so bad for Chase.

I went down to the basement where Chase was playing Drew's x-box because he got all A's on his report card.( Big cheer for both the boys they both got all A's!) I whispered to Drew what has happened and then told Chase. His eyes got real big and I thought he was going to cry but he just asked how I knew. I told him he asked a few more questions and then he went back to playing the game. End of story

NOT

Later Chase came up and watched a TV show with me and then went in his room to go to bed. I went in to tell him good night. I noticed the light was on in the tank. I asked him about it and then noticed he was all covered up. I pulled the covers down and he was in tears. I gave him a big hug ( what else can a mom do?) and talked to him. He said he did not want to flush Achilles. I told him we could bury him in the back yard and he seemed OK with that. We talked for a while and I thought all was well then he teared up again I asked what was wrong he was afraid that Drew would come in and get Achilles and flush him. I went back down to the basement and told Daddy not to flush Achilles.

This morning Chase said he did not sleep last night so we decided to let him stay home. (Not an easy thing to get to do in our home). He wanted me to get a small box to bury Achilles in I was going to the store any way so I told him I would. Never in a million years would I have thought that would have been a hard thing to do. First thing I went to the craft section of the store. The only box they had was about 6 inches square a little big for a 2 inch fish. I went all over the store, the toy section, the party section the bathroom and kitchen sections if it had potential to have any kind of small box I was there looking. I finally found a small box in the office section that has tags in it that would do.

Now I am home and need to go have a funeral for a fish.