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Saturday, December 13
I'm alone. Bumbling around the house cleaning places and sweeping (HAH! How many guys do that these days) simply because I didn't like the messy feel of the house. The rabbit's overturned the dustbin, there's an empty drink here dadada...the house looks horrendous. So I'm sweeping here , and I'm cleaning there, when I hear a loud 'flop' emanating from the balcony. I ignore that initially, dismissing the noise as something the rabbit's doing. Then I hear another 'flop' again, and just to be safe, I walk to the balcony to see what's the rabbit doing. Or what I think the rabbit was doing.
Apparently the 'flop' sounds weren't made the rabbit. Contrary to what I thought, the rabbit wasn't in the balcony. She was sniffing at the broom I was holding or something like that. But I did see something that made me drop the broom I was holding and make the rabbit scuttle off somewhere. One of the fish tank's almost devoid of water, and the poor luohan (or so-called flowerhorn cichlid) is struggling there. The fish's lying horizontally and flat, with a fin flapping weakly there. I yell, and I grab for the hose. The fish's staring death in the eye (okays staring at me technically), and as much as I don't like it, I still have to save it. I have compassion in my dictionary, and I've told people before I would be more sad when I see an animal die then when a human dies.
I struggle with the hose, the fish's probably thinking "WHADDAHELL! *gasp* I'm dying here and you *gasp* don't even know how to operate a hose!?". Desperate with my futile attempts, I search for a pail, to no avail, and I get back to figuring out how to operate the hose. I twist and I turn, I pull and I push and finally water starts gushing out of the hose. Ecstasy courses through me, I start filling the tank with water, I slowly see the water level rising and the fish returning to a vertical position, much to mine and the fish's relief.
I still don't like the fish, it still wants to bite my finger when I place my finger against the glass of the tank, but at least I saved a poor creature's life. Flashes of deja vu run through me, I remember reading with sadness the news of Keiko's death in a Norwegian fjord. Keiko, the killer whale which starred in the Free Willy movies failed to readapt to the wilderness and died, possibly of old age or pneumonia. Ironically in the seas of the only country which defies international whaling rules. What's the moral of the story I'm not sure. You decide.
Know how to operate a hose
Make sure your fish tank isn't losing water
Have compassion
Own a rabbit
Have a good command of English so you can describe small little things like they're oh-so-awesome
Whatever.
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