Sunday, October 28, 2012

RIP Brillo Bill



A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle
1995
Weight: 8 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving Somewhere




I bought this book in 2002 because I was dating a girl who loved L’Engle and highly recommended this book.  I am not going to talk about this book here, though I am sure I will talk about L’Engle in this blog in the future.  She was required reading when I was young, and no one my age can forget A Wrinkle in Time.
I chose this book today because of the picture on the cover, a dolphin leaping over a young girl’s arms.   

Today, Brillo Bill the Beta Fish died.  Brillo Bill went by the name Sponge Bob when cared for by Harriet and Connor, my friends who recently moved back to England.  I took Brillo Bill in when they left.  I changed his name mostly to aggravate Harriet and also to prove my disdain for the cartoon character.  He was a beautiful, red fish who would build bubble nests and glide through the water looking very handsome no matter what he was doing.  He was very easy to care for, though I hated cleaning out his tank.  It was always so obviously traumatizing for him to be scooped up from his home and then replaced once it was clean.  He would, as fish do, try every route possible to flee me.  It made me feel so guilty but, when we were not cleaning, life together was easy-breezy.  We coexisted peacefully.  He was in a nice quiet place where the dogs did not notice him.  I don’t know what a fish thinks or feels, but I hope he had a good, secure life.  I appreciated the beauty he brought to mine.

It is not every day you get to adopt a fish.  I will not buy one so this may be the last one for me.  Good Bye, Brillo Bill.  Thank you for sharing your life with me.

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