Fish and the best 13 year old

Why are fist considered pets? Pets bring inspriation and life to a higher plane with their deep-brown eyes. Pets take up half your bed and refuse to be kicked out. Pets make you feel special because they love you no matter what a wreck you make of your life as long as you take care of them.

Can you cuddle a fish? No.

But Madison, you can't cuddle some cat's are they pets?

Can a fish have affection for you? No.

Can a fish make happy noises and dance when you walk into a room? No.

Still failing to see how a cat falls fit given the qualifications?

Cat's are fuzzy. Except for those weird bald ones. And they have expression filled eyes. Even if said expression is usually scorn.

I am house sitting/pet minding right now while my family is on holidays.


The fish tank has become a disaster.

The room was begining to smell like fish tank. Which it never has before. The tank was looking like... do I need to go into details? what do you think was floating in it?

I kept trying to clean it and when I did I found dead fish.

So whatever was wrong was making me avoid the dinning room like ground zero because of the general smell of rot.

And whatever was wrong was killing these poor fish! Why? I mean, fish live in dirty water naturally!

My attempts to fix the situation over the last few days had been unsuccessful. I texted my family, even though it was like 10:30 my time. I just couldn't leave it.

The dad called me back on the house phone, told me not to be upset as fish die. Once one speaker instructed me on how to what he thought the problem was.

I had to stop myself from being like "Grab what? The pump?!! That's SUBMERGED the gross water! There are fish in that water!! What if they touch my HAND!!" I very bravely, or at least silently did as instucted and set the pump right.


Then I hung up with the family and called my family via skype. So I could have support while I attempted to drain a third of the water from the tank.

They were very supportive. Unlike the cat who kept Meowing to me about how she thought I should feed her. Not unlike the journalists in the spy show I like who seem to think their opinion on freedom of the press is relevant to the crisis at hand.
Haha, it would have solved both problems.

I don't know if I'm relieved or disappointed that my job consists of cleaning fish tanks rather than averting nuclear disaster in the way it is presented in a fictionally BBC series.

Anyway, buckets and buckets of water later my little brother was still keeping me company. (In fairness my sister has an awful cold.)
Finally my little brother Eli said, "Madi, when you are done with that can you do me a favor?"

I said yes, thinking he wanted a sheep t-shirt or something next time I was in town.
He said "Take a bubble bath."

Isn't he the best?

Oh, and when I was  almost finished with the tank one little guppy came up to the surface, looked at me and started moving his mouth. I realize he was just eating all the junk I was stirring up. But it was cute to actually realize he was an animal instead of an innconvienece.

It felt like one of those James Herriots when they spend hours delivering a calf at three in the morning, in the field in Yorkshire. Then the calf comes out and James forgets how cold he is or how rude the farmer is because he is wittnessing the miracle that is life.

But not... because after all, this was just a fish.