Tuesday, March 13, 2007

RIP Tiny Steve

Well that didn't last long. Or I should say "he"?

Poor Tiny Steve. And I thought I was doing well when I cleaned his brackish water yesterday. Obviously I upset his delicate balance of flora and fauna (thanks Lisa!) and he went artlessly belly up last night.

Poor Henry discovered the body at bedtime. I heard the wail from his room and at first thought he was pissed at Audrey for something as he had been most of the day. But that mother thing kicked in where you recognize different kinds of cries and I knew right away something was wrong. He came into the hallway and I kept asking him what the matter was and he couldn't answer. He just kept getting more and more upset. When I saw Tiny Steve my heart broke for him.

I held Henry and hugged him tight and told him how sorry I was. Scott heard the ruckus and came upstairs to hug him too. We talked about how fun it was to have Tiny Steve in our family even for such a short time then unceremoniously flushed him down the toilet. Henry turned down the "privilege" of doing the actual flushing and left that unfortunate duty to me. Poor kid. He hitched and sniffled all through.

What else could we do but agree to buy him another one today? When I came home from work they had picked out a beauty of a betta (easier to keep without a bubbler) and named him Couscous after tonight's side dish. Henry seems suitably appeased and peace reigns once again in the Kaye household. Phew.

kxx

(PS: Thanks to all for your votes yesterday but I lost to 2 14 year old girls. Apparently their network was bigger than mine. Hmph. There goes my washer and dryer)
k