Sunday, December 31, 2006
A Fitting Farewell
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
--Bill Vaughan
Tonight we bid an untimely farewell to my little fish, Othello (an African tetra, get it?) Apparently he was in a rumble with the other tetras, and was mortally wounded. I happened upon my scaly friend's near-lifeless body about 11:00 this evening. There he was, floating listlessly, suspended by wisps of sea-grass. I watched with sorrow as his ravaged body gave its last attempt to move water across his gills for oxygen.
Then it was over.
Gently I lifted his lifeless form from the water using the green net. Then Brad and I ceremoniously paraded to the master bathroom. After all, what could be more fitting than to send brave Othello to his final resting place than to do so via the master bathroom plumbing? With a silent splash, he was laid to rest. The silver handle of his porcelain chariot was tipped once with reverence. We closed the lid and stood in silence.
Such was the closing of this final hour of 2006. Farewell Othello. You will be missed.
--Bill Vaughan
Tonight we bid an untimely farewell to my little fish, Othello (an African tetra, get it?) Apparently he was in a rumble with the other tetras, and was mortally wounded. I happened upon my scaly friend's near-lifeless body about 11:00 this evening. There he was, floating listlessly, suspended by wisps of sea-grass. I watched with sorrow as his ravaged body gave its last attempt to move water across his gills for oxygen.
Then it was over.
Gently I lifted his lifeless form from the water using the green net. Then Brad and I ceremoniously paraded to the master bathroom. After all, what could be more fitting than to send brave Othello to his final resting place than to do so via the master bathroom plumbing? With a silent splash, he was laid to rest. The silver handle of his porcelain chariot was tipped once with reverence. We closed the lid and stood in silence.
Such was the closing of this final hour of 2006. Farewell Othello. You will be missed.
