FISH SITTING

Friends of ours were going away for the last weekend of the summer and asked Steven and I if we would fish sit for them.

“Sure. What kind of fish is it?” I asked.

“It's a Betta.” she answered.

“Oh, we've had a few of those.” I said. Glad to know it was one of the disposable kinds of fish and not a tropical high-maintenance kind. “It'll be fun having a fish in the house again.” I said.

I wasn't home when the fish got dropped off but I arrived soon after.

“Where do you want to keep the fish?” Steven asked. “I’ve got it in my office right now.”

“How about on the kitchen table” I suggested “It might be kind of fun to use it as a centerpiece.”

“I don't know if that's the best place for it.” Steven said. “You won't be able to plug in its tank.”

“What?” I went into Steven's office. I couldn't believe the beautiful tank this fish was in. It had to hold at least two gallons of water and the reason it needed to be plugged in was because it had its own filtering system. Inside there was a pretty red Betta, it's elegant long tail and fins helping it glide its way through a castle's windows. The castle, in fish scale was about three stories tall.

“Oh my gosh, they must really love this thing.” I cried as I looked over at Steven. “Our Bettas always lived in a little bowl that held about a cup and a half of water and they swam around in a tiny circle. The only time the water got changed was when you wouldn't see the fish anymore!”

“You might want to take better care of this one.” Steven said as he handed me the fish food along with its care instructions.
 I looked over the two types of food it needed daily. I held up the first container. “This one's just to keep its color bright.” I said, then looked at the other container. “And this one has an added ingredient to lower any stress it might be feeling!”

“You might want to give him some of that food right now.” Steven said, pointing to the tank. “He's looking a little stressed.”

Steven started to laugh.

“It's not funny!” I cried. “What if we can't keep him alive for the next week?”

“What do you mean 'we'?” Steven asked. “There should really be only one person in charge of feeding him so he doesn't get overfed. I think that person should be you.”

“Why should it be me?”

“I didn't want to tell you this, but when he was first dropped off I could tell right away that we weren't going to get along.”

“What?” I looked at him, confused.

“He kept giving me bad looks.” Steven said as he shrugged his shoulders. “I'm not going to take that kind of attitude from any fish.”

I looked at Steven for a moment. “That's what you came up with so I'd have to be the one to take care of the fish?”

“Short notice.” he said “That's all I've got.”