“Teacher!”, says child,
“Come look at the tank!
The fish on the top?
to the bottom he’s sank.”
Poor little fishy,
twitch-twitch goes his tail.
Sick little fishy,
so gray and so pale.
We clean out the tank,
scrub sides, top and bottom.
Whatever germs fish get?
This fishy’s got ’em.
All day we wait,
the children go home.
Teacher and fishy –
in room all alone.
Four little fishies,
one is so sick.
Now he must die in
the way of least ‘ick’.
Teacher calls hubby
to ask for advice.
Hubby lists endings
in ways not so nice.
Teacher scoops fish,
puts under truck tire,
backs over fishy
for passing least dire.
Squish went the fishy,
and now there are three.
A story for you,
Tonight’s post for me.
For next time: The fish books all say the easiest way to euthanize a fish is to freeze it. Put some aquarium water in a glass, drop in the fish, and put it in a freezer. The fish goes to sleep, then stops living. Bonus: you don’t have to watch it. (Fish don’t really have the capacity to feel pain anyway, so really you could do whatever you want. The freezer method is just perhaps less confusing for them.)
-Brad, who used to be psycho about reading aquarium encyclopedias
Yeah, I thought about freezing him, but I was short on time and didn’t want to leave a note for our cook, “Sorry there’s a dead fish in your freezer”. That might have been awkward. 🙂
(Fish don’t really have the capacity to feel pain anyway, so really you could do whatever you want)
Don’t believe him Lauren…he says the same thing about rabbits.
This isn’t the first animal you’ve killed with your truck tire. Is it?
Seems I remember another…
Lauren--your poem is excellent! At first I thought it was from a book or something.
So here’s my idea…make a book of your awesome poems & drawings and sell them. I’d like to pre-order the first one please.
I think that is a great idea. I just bought “An Awesome Book” for my mom for valentines day. It’s a privately published book. If he can do it, so can you!
http://dallasclayton.com/products/
Maybe you should publish a book titled “Requiems for Dead Pets.”
Do I want to hear this story?
Hey that was supposed to be attached to Beth’s comment…
You missed the opportunity for a fishy funeral. Let the kids say a nice thing or two about the fishy. Let them weep a bit. Then flush him away to the great fishbowl beyond.