The Ambitious Goldfish

By Casey Parish

A 1.25 gallon bowl…  hardly enough room for one fish to live comfortably.  Certainly too small for two fish… but this 1 gallon bowl holds 3 goldfish.  If it only held the three goldfish it would be very cramped. However, this bowl has a large plant, a two-room castle, a bubbling treasure chest, and a very large oxygen system that was designed to be used in 30 gallon fish tanks.  The oxygen system obscured all but a small hole in the top of the bowl.  Food was pushed in through this opening.  The bottom of the bowl was covered with an inch of blue and purple rocks.

The occupants of this cramped bowl are named Thomas, Dickson, and Harrison.  Thomas is a young adult goldfish that is completely content with his existence.  The bowl furnishings delighted him, and he lived to be fed from the small hole at the top.  Dickson is pretty old for a goldfish.  He does little more than meander about the bowl in quiet introspection.  Harrison is an ambitious young goldfish.  He has dreams of exploration and discovery.  The contentment of the other two fish nauseates him and the malcontent of Harrison annoyed them as well.

“Oh Dickson!” cried Harrison, “Do you not ever dream about what is beyond the walls of this bowl?”

 Dickson rolled his eyes, “Harry, you dream to big.  You must look at your surroundings and acknowledge that they ARE good.  We are safe, we are fed and not without a pleasant thing or two to look at. Why.. look at Thomas over there… why can’t you be as happy and content as him?”

Thomas giggled as he watched the treasure chest fill the lid up with air to the point it would lift it and release a large bubble.

“Yay!” Thomas exclaimed, “I wonder if it will do it again!” Sure enough the lid was filled to capacity and released another large bubble. “Huzzah! Oh, Harry did you see that!?”

“Yes Tom.” answered Harrison, “I saw that.  It was just like the last one… and the one before that… and the one before that… and the one before that… since we have been here.  It isn’t going to change, it will never stop.”

“I know!” cried Thomas, “Isn’t it marvelous!?”

       Harrison sighed and looked at Dickson who was smiling and looking at Thomas as if his contentment brought some sort of satisfaction.  He then looked back at Harrison.

       “Harry, this world is small.  But…”

“No it isn’t!” Harrison interrupted.  The outburst intrigued Thomas and he began to pay attention to the conversation. “There is a big world out there! Look over there!” Harrison pointed to a window. “Sometimes there is a bright light out there… sometimes it is dark.. why? And look over there!” Harrison pointed to a door. “The thing that gives us food is going out and in that all the time.  There are things to see on the other side of that thing!”

“Harry…” Dickson spoke calmly.  “even if this is true… we don’t have the capability to look and see.  I have watched you bang your head against the small hole many times.  We can’t fit through that hole.  We can’t break through these walls.  This is our world.  Please, Harry… make the best of it.”

Thomas looked at them both and decided that this conversation was way over his dorsal fin, and so he went back to the treasure chest to make sure it was still making bubbles.

Harrison was silent.  He knew that Dickson was right, but did not want to accept it. 

“I’m tired, Harry.” said Dickson, “I’m going to retire to the castle.”  And with that Dickson turned around and was already mostly in the castle.

Harrison remained silent and turned his attention to Thomas who was very happily watching the bubbles. 

“Look at him.” Harrison thought, “I wish I could be content.  I wish I didn’t have any idea that there was a world outside.  Oh the bliss of ignorance.  Tom there is ignorance personified.  I’ve never seen him downtrodden, I want that.”

Thomas looked over at Harrison, “Come look!” he cried.

Harrison decided that he would give it a shot and swam over next to Thomas.

The bubbles would fill the lid and flip it open to release a large bubble every five seconds.  The large bubble would quickly travel to the top and make a noise that might be considered pleasant.  However, after 20 seconds of observing this… Harrison found the noise to be maddening and inescapable. Harrison began to cry.

Harrison’s attempt to enjoy what he had only brought more torture.  He became painfully aware of a sound that acted much like the Chinese water torture. 

“bloop!”  five seconds later “bloop!” five seconds later “bloop!”

Harrison spent every moment waiting for the next “bloop!”

       The image of Thomas laughing with glee became distorted into a horrid clown-like monster face.

       Harrison screamed and shot into the castle, running into Dickson who was trying to rest.

       “OW!! ARG!!” cried Dickson, “Harry, what are you doing!? Can’t you see I am trying to rest? What has gotten into you?”

       Harrison could only cry.  He cried himself to sleep, and he dreamed of the world outside the bowl.  He dreamed of the other creatures he might encounter, the sights he might see.  He dreamed of a goldfish of the opposite sex… even though he has never seen or heard of such.

       Harrison wakes to find himself alone in the castle.  He hears laughing outside.

       “Hey Harry!” yelled Thomas, “Dickson is swimming almost like… sideways or something.”

       Harrison sees Dickson swimming about at a 45º angle. 

       “I’m not sideways!” Dickson yelled “YOU are sideways.. you two quit cutting up!”

       “Um… Dick… you are a bit sideways.” Harrison said nervously.

       “You two are crazy, I don’t know what I’m going to do with you haha!” Dickson laughed.

       Dickson seemed to be in a much better mood than usual.  When their owner came to give them food, he swam about excitedly.  This made the owner himself concerned and he watched as Dickson flicked about for nearly five minutes.  The others just quietly ate and observed.

       “I am worried about Dickson,” said Harrison, “I think he might be possessed or something.”

       Thomas began to laugh, “I think he is just having fun! Look at him go!”

       They both watched in amusement/horror as Dickson flicked about and laughed. 

       The time was approaching when it was time to rest.

       “Hey Dickson!” Thomas yelled, “Me and… Harry and I are going to go in and sleep.  Are you not coming?”

       “You go ahahahhahahead!” laughed Dickson.

       Thomas and Harrison went into the castle but their thoughts never left Dickson.  They could hear and feel the water move about as he swam around excitedly. 

Then, after an hour or so, it all stopped.  Harrison looked at Thomas and saw he was fast asleep.  He left him in the castle and stepped outside to see what Dickson was up to.  He looked around but could not see him anywhere.

“Hey DICKSON!” he shouted.  There was no reply.  Suddenly he looked up and saw Dickson completely sideways… lying against the top of the bowl.  He was so still, but his eyes were wide open.

Harrison went to investigate, but suddenly the feeding hole became very large and a large green arm reached in and scooped up Dickson!

Harrison was too scared to make a sound… but he went to the side and watched the owner carry him through a door.

Thomas came outside. “What is going on?” he asked.

“Tom, I … I really don’t know.. but I think that Dickson is gone.”

“Gone?” Thomas asked.

“Yes, I just watched a large green arm scoop him up… and the thing that feeds us carried him through a door.”

“Well, how bout that?” Thomas turned away and began staring at the chest…giggling with amusement at every new bubble.

Harrison was disappointed but not surprised with Thomas.  After all, he was profoundly stupid.

Having no idea what just happened, Harrison tried to piece it together in his mind, but nothing was connecting.  All he knew for sure is that Dickson was gone… gone.. OUT OF THE BOWL!!

Suddenly Harrison was very happy!  He swam about for joy and formulated a plan to imitate the latest actions of Dickson.

Learning to swim at an angle was hard at first but he eventually got the hang of it.  Thomas paid little attention to this unusual behavior.

The owner came with the food and observed Harrison’s unusual behavior.  Harrison felt good about holding the thing’s attention for soo long, he knew his plan was working.

When the time came to sleep, Thomas went into the castle without saying anything to Harrison.  Harrison flipped about for another hour.  Then, when he felt the time was right.. he swam to the surface and kept very still.

“Oh boy!” Harrison thought, “I’’m getting out of here! I wonder who I will meet! Maybe I will see Dickson again. Haha! He sure will be surprised to see me. I bet he did not even think I was clever enough to…”

Harrison’s thoughts were interrupted by the owner removing the oxygen system off the top of the bowl.  Harrison tried hard not to smile and stayed perfectly still, holding his breath. The green arm came and scooped him up.  Harrison felt himself moving around in space, he could only see the inside part of the green thing and a small amount of light penetrating the sides.  His heart beat furiously.

Next thing he knew, Harrison was in a free fall and he landed with a splash!

Harrison tried to take in his surroundings.

“Wow, this place is bigger!” he thought, “I see white walls that slope down to a large dark hole… and a smaller hole in front of it… These holes must lead to another…”

Again Harrison’s thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound.  Water started shooting from all sides and created bublbles that obscured some of his vision.  The water level began to fall and Harrison was sucked towards the large dark hole!

Darkness.

       Back at the bowl, Thomas awakes and finds his way to the treasure chest… giggling contently with every new bubble made.