There and Back Again

Disposition: Sad and sorry
Listening: iTunes purchases
Reading: Bourne Identity
Watching: Nothing
Obsessing: Eduardo Noriega
Pondering: Fish die belly upward, and rise to the surface. Its their way of falling. (Andre Gide)

One of my mom’s goldfish passed away today. Curly, a.k.a. Diver Dan (from David Wehham’s character in SeaChange) was such a joy to behold. It was a red lionhead goldfish, bright orange and approximately 2.5 inches in length with a big belly that seemed ready to explode anytime soon and a swelling on top of its head that made it look like Al Sharpton on a good day. Curly was the most playful fish I have ever encountered, always swimming towards the window when you come near the tank. It liked to swish and swosh its tail around in the aquarium and it was always the first to grab the first drop of food. A few weeks before its death, Curly fancied swimming and feeding upside down which I thought was cute and amazingly unique. But apparently that was due to a fish vertigo or lack of balance of some sort. What I thought was cute was actually an illness.

Poor, poor Curly — the loveliest fish of them all. My mother found him dead today in the aquarium, its head resting on a rock. The lovely goldfish is now in a bucket of water in the downstairs bathroom awaiting burial or royal flushing (down the toilet). There will never be another fish in the tank like dear old Curly. May it rest in peace.