Last Thursday I was looking forward to a fun night at a local carnival but 30 minutes after arrival I found that rides now just promise me increasing levels of nausea. Trying to calm my stomach and equilibrium my boyfriend, Timothy and I headed towards the midway. Now, as a youngster my brother and I would always ask to throw baseballs at pyramids of coke bottles or darts at balloons always to a polite but firm "no" from our parents. The one game we begged to play and were always met with a resounding "NO" was the ping-pong ball thrown into a glass bowl to win the coveted prize of a goldfish. Now, maybe it was the money needed to invest in the little guy after the winning or maybe they knew the chance of a travelling fair goldfish surviving more than 24 hours was slim to none...whateve the reason, my brother and I just thought them cruel and unusual. So, I'm telling this sad childhood tale to Timothy when we pass the goldfish both and he says, "Do you want me to win you a goldfish?" To which I reply, "Oh no I can't have...wait a minute. I'm grownup. I don't live with my parents. YES TIMOTHY! WIN ME A GOLDFISH!!" And he did! Paranoid as I was about him dying immediately, we stopped at Wal-mart on the way home and got the very basic supplies and have gotten a few others over the past few days. I named him Steve after my cousin (don't ask). It is silly but I find myself thinking about him during the day and wondering why he isn't eating as much as I think he should be. I constantly "google" advice on caring for my new orange buddy. His bowl sits on my bedside table and I find myself staring at him before bed and when I wake in the morning. It is like I have taken myself back to that childhood longing for this little creature I couldn't have. I think that is more the appeal than anything else. I mean, it's just a goldfish, right? But, it was something withheld for so long...the forbidden fruit...kind of. Whatever the reason I am quite taken with him and hope I don't come home any time soon to find him floating belly up. He's not big enough to eat yet.
3 comments:
oh my gosh you crack me up - your a great writer too, too bad you couldn't hear me laughing out loud in the other room!!
oh, and i know the feeling, i drank grape kooaid before i went to bed for the past week...B/C I CAN!!!
I loved reading the story. Post more! I had a huge grin on my face the whole time I read it. How cool is that?....when childhood hopes become a reality!
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