I don't remember my title

Hello. My name is Marv. Or maybe it was Jack. Let's go with Marv, because I really like the letter M. Anyway, I live in a fish tank and my best friend is the ceiling fan.

 

I, Marv, with no beginning or end, am left in this fishtank to ponder my days. What shall I do on the 756th? Swim to the glass and wait for Lucy to tap the glass with her dirty fingers? Should I swim to the ship and play pirate, or try again to walk on two legs?

 

Wait. I don't have legs. Strange, I keep forgetting that.

 

My story starts when Lucy walked by the tank in the carnival and begged her dad to play the game and win a fish. Lucy was really young then, with pretty brown hair and bangs and blue eyes. Her dad won twice, and he and Lucy picked me and another fish to go home. That fish's name was Jill.

 

What was it Jill wanted from me? I asked myself continously. She would follow me around the little fish bowl that the family kept us in for that first week, and she would disappear everytime I looked back. She had a pretty little blue fin and a blue and silver body. When we moved to the big tank, Lucy gave us a pirate ship to play in, some rocks at the bottom of the tank that I really hated because Jill started to pay more attention to them than to me. Plus, I swam near the top and Jill liked the bottom of the tank.

 

Until the 36th day. Jill really liked the top of the tank then.

 

I'd seen death before, in the carnival, when I was just a young little goldfish, but now my fin was larger and much prettier. That death had been very quick. The person working the booth just grabbed the tiger fish from the tank and threw him in the garbage. What was his name again? Luis, I think. Not important. Not important to the carnival worker, at least. But I'm sure Luis wouldn't have minded the toilet.

 

Anyway, on this day, no one had come for Jill until late, when the world outside the fishtank became dark with what looked like seaweeds, and the little square hole in Lucy's house became navy with white dots instead of light blue, with puffs of white. I liked to think the little white dots on the navy backdrop were all the other fish in the world, in their own little tanks, watching over me and Jill that day. They must have blinked for a second, and that's when Jill died, and now they can't get her back. They shouldn't have blinked, but fish can't blink anyway, so I'm probably wrong.

 

Lucy screamed when she came home that day, and her dad couldn't understand what the problem was. She pointed to Jill, whose still body was starting to frighten me a little.

They gave Jill a proper fish's burial; down that loud white seat with the whole in it, filled with water and yellow and sometimes brown.

 

That night I became best friends with the cieling fan, who was called Bert. He blew the water in the fish tank and the steady ripples made me feel somewhat calmer. I looked to the square hole in Lucy's house and saw many white dots. I wondered if they really were fish, and if any of them were named Marv, like me?

 

Even if they were, it's not like they would feel the way I felt right now. I turned my head away from the hole and away from the ripples and headed down. Down, far down. To where Jill used to swim. I swished over the blue, green and purple rocks, and settled down, far away from the pirate ship. I stared unblinkingly at Lucy, who was laughing. I wasn't laughing, and neither was Jill. Fish couldn't laugh anyway. Some day, I'll join Jill. And Lucy will keep laughing.

Reviews

[Blue Moon Ice Cream]

I love the way you took us inside the mind of a goldfish! Very original, well-done concept. The humor was great, especially the way you described Jill's death. I enjoyed the line about Marv becoming best friends with the ceiling fan, "Bert," as well.

Clever. A pleasure to read!

[Kyle]

Do you take drugs?

LOL

Just kidding! This was really, really good. I love the imagination and orginality of this write! You are very good.

[snopadelic]

Brilliant. Life's perespective rom a goldfish. Its very original and very funny. I like funny. I love the line untill the 36th day then Jill like the top of the tank. I really like that story.

[HappyTaylor]

Wow this is really amazing!