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All Rights Reserved/Copyright 2005/Amazon Art Reproductions/Updated: May 25, 2005
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That Saturday morning was a kind of dreary looking, late November day. The weather was just beginning to be a little bit on the cool side. Winter was coming too quickly for my liking. As I began to get ready to go out, a few rain drops had started to fall, but I could see that it was not enough rain for me to get really wet or even to persuade me that I might need an umbrella.
I was determined that I was going to go out and buy a betta fish that day, whether it was raining or not. There was absolutely nothing that was going to stop me. I had thought about it all week.
The first time I had ever seen a betta fish was in a floral shop. I was totally amazed when I first saw them. They had been placed into glass containers of various shapes and sizes, with several bamboo shoots that had roots growing into the water, through a little dish with holes placed on the top of the container. The betta fish swam serenely in amongst the roots of the plants.
The floral shop had quite a large number of the containers with beautiful fish that were various shades of red, purple, blue and green. The colors of the betta fish were fantastic!
As I watched them swim about, I was told by the florist that each male betta fish had to be placed in a fish bowl by itself, as it would attack and possibly kill other male betta fish, if placed in the same container or aquarium. (I don't know if I really believed that then or if I believe that even now.)
But that was how my curiosity and interest in betta fish began. They were just a little bit beyond my budget for that week or I really might have gone home with one right then and there, even though it would have cost me an arm and a leg at florist prices.
Several weeks later, the week before I found Oliver, I had walked into our corner store to buy something. Beside the cash register, there was a doorway that opened into a pet store. As I paid for my purchase, I could hardly believe what I saw through the doorway!
The pet store had a whole table top full of rose bud bowls, each containing one betta fish. What a wonderful surprize! Talk about a variety of colors! I decided to take a closer look. As I drew closer to look at them, I was totally enraptured once again.
The owner of the pet store was a gentle, soft spoken young woman that I had come to know a bit from my frequent visits to the store but I never did get to know her name. I asked her a few brief questions about betta fish and then told her, in no uncertain terms, that I would be back to buy one. I didn't really have enough time that day to purchase one, as I was on my way to work. I decided that I really should not take a betta fish to work anyhow, although the thought did enter my mind. I was happy to learn from her, that betta fish can be quite affordable.
It was starting to get colder and dark earlier in the evening. The winters in northern Ontario can be very dark and long. I decided that I needed a pet to keep me company. I made up my mind that I was going to come back to get one later on in the week.
I don't know what I found so fascinating about them. Perhaps it was because they were just so pretty. Maybe I just did not like the thought of one little fish swimming all alone in a glass container. May be I just needed a friend that day!
I had no sooner walked about half a block, when I met one of my neighbours, a sweet, elderly gentleman who was walking his three dogs on leashes. I wondered how he kept their leashes from getting tangled up, but he seemed to be managing just fine. Lovely dogs, I thought, and such a congenial person to talk with as well! We chatted very briefly. But I wanted to get going to buy my betta fish. That was front and centre in my mind. But first I had to walk that mile to deliver the letter. So I graciously made my exit.
I had no sooner gone a few more steps down the street, when I met a younger man, also a neighbor. "Hi!" he said. "Where you off to today?" I was not about to reveal to him that I was going to buy a betta fish, although I knew that he would have loved to have me stand there and tell him about it. "Just off to do a few things I need to do," I said in a gentle, quiet and friendly manner. I knew that this man had been quite ill over the past six months. He was such a nice guy that I hated to walk away from him.
"Want a ride?" he asked. Any other day, I thought to myself. I just wanted to go and buy my fish. He had never asked me if I wanted a ride before that. "No thanks," I replied. "Need to get some exercise!" I said, as I headed down the street and around the corner.
It was starting to rain a bit heavier and there was no doubt that I was going to get wet, but I really did not want to answer any more questions, or stand there making casual conversation in the rain. I began to walk quite quickly, pulling my hood up over my head, so that I wouldn't get too drenched.
The air seemed so fresh and clean, as I got closer to the lake at the bottom of the hill. The leaves had now fallen off most of the trees and it was quite slippery where they had settled in the crevices on the sidewalks. I had to be a bit more careful, I decided as I walked along. I really could not afford to have a tumble.
There was a heavy fog over most of the Lake Superior that morning and I could barely see the Sleeping Giant in the distance. This historical landmark had a way of disappearing every once in a while. Some days it seemed as if there was no Giant there at all and on those days, it looked like the Giant was merely an optical illusion. But then, when the weather cleared and the sun came out, there was the Giant back again, looming larger than ever on the horizon. Sometimes it seemed to be much closer than at other times.
It wasn't long before I had delivered the letter and headed homeward, still walking at a good pace, in spite of the fact that it was now uphill almost all of the way. It was still raining but a bit less than it had been earlier.
The young lady who owned the pet shop just totally ignored me as I walked into her part of the store. She was slender and of medium build with a very short, kind of cute, contemporary haircut. She seeemed to be momentarily distracted. Her hands were busy cleaning fish tanks. I looked around casually and saw that the collection of betta fish in the rose bowls was still there. Only a few had been sold. I gazed at them momentarily, as I waited for her to finish what she was doing. She was obviously in no rush. Finally, I walked toward the back of the room to say hello.
"What do I need to take care of a betta fish?" I asked her. She didn't say anything at all, just turned and reached for some betta fish food from the shelf and then some pills to eliminate the chlorine in the water. She handed them to me. She seemed very quiet that day. What is happening, I wondered. After a brief pause, she said, "They just need a couple of pellets of fish food once a day."
I wondered momentarily if that was actually true. The poor fish are going to starve to death, I thought. I wandered back towards the front of the store and a few moments later, she followed me. I stood beside the table where the betta fish were swimming round and round in the bottom of their glass rose bowls. Each one was in about an inch of water.
You poor fish, I thought. Not one of them appeared to be very active, but then how could they be active if they did not have enough water to swim in. "They don't like being alone," the young pet store owner explained. All of the rose bowls had been grouped close together, as if the the fish could actually keep each other company simply by placing the rose bowls side by side.
Suddenly, as I took a really good look at the betta fish, trying to find one that I thought might be active and healthy, the door behind me opened. In walked a very scruffy looking, old man with long straggly, wet gray hair and several days growth of whiskers on his face. The scraggly grey dog that he had with him, looked almost as rough as he did. THey were both sopping wet and needed to have a good bath.
"They got me!" he said to the pet store owner, who did not seem surprized to see him come into the store. Obviously, he had been there before and she knew him. "Who got you?" she asked quietly, as she watched him sit down on the floor beside his dog. They both simply made themselves at home. By then, the dog had stretched out on his side, as if totally exhausted. "The police," the old man said. "They caught me in the park and made me clean up the mess." The dog just sighed innocently, closed his eyes and drifted off. He was quite content to be indoors, out of the rain and cold.
Not even two seconds later, the door opened again. In walked a very young couple carrying a brown, cardboard box. "Do you take kittens?" the young man asked the owner of the pet store. I could hear a couple of faint meows coming from inside the box. The young man holding it, was standing right beside me. I carefully lifted one of the flaps on the top, simply out of curiosity. A sweet little gray kitten attempted to climb out of the box. The young man roughly pushed it back inside. "We have five of them," his wife explained apologetically. "And we don't know what to do with them."
They were really cute, I realized, but I knew that I did not want to buy a kitten. All I wanted was buy one betta fish and go home. By that time, I had decided which betta fish I was going to take home with me. When I looked at the one I had chosen, he appeared to be the color of the water in Oliver Lake, a small lake where we had the opportunity to swim as children. He was a gorgeous blue-green color with a reddish, almost purple tinge on his fins. That was the moment when I fell in love with that particular betta fish!
The pet store owner started to make out my bill, as she explained to the young couple that she really could not take any more kittens at that time. "Let the water sit for two days before you put the fish into it," she advised me, as she showed me the statement for the betta fish.
She went on to explain that she already had more kittens than she thought that she could sell at that time. She was very apologetic and finally handed them a slip of paper. "Put your name and your phone number down and if I find anyone who wants some kittens, I will call you," she said gently. They just stood there dumbfounded. It seemed that they had actually expected bring the kittens to the pet store and to get paid for the them. The young woman took the piece of paper and put their name and telephone number on it.
The pet store owner looked at me sheepishly and asked me what I wanted her to do with my new betta fish. "The rose bowl is included in the price," she said, as I paid her for the betta fish that I had chosen. She had a plastic bag in her hand. "Put it over the top of the bowl," the old man sitting on the floor ordered gruffly. She did exactly what he suggested, putting an elastic band around the rim of the rose bowl to secure it in place.
"Want a box?" she asked. "Sure," I replied. "I just don't want him to get cold, as I am walking home," I explained. She headed towards the back of the store and came back with a cardboard box that was about six inches deep, a foot long and nine or ten inches in width. She put the little four inch rose bowl containing the betta fish into the box along with the betta fish food. I almost burst out laughing.
"Better put some paper around it," the old man growled from the floor, where he was sitting against the wall. "It will slide all over the place," he said, as if spouting words of wisdom. The young shop owner immediately headed to the back of the store again and came back with a roll of paper towels. I thought that she would wrap up the bowl and just hand it to me. I waited. She tore the towels off the roll, one at a time and crinkled them, like one would do with sheets of newspaper, and one by one, put them into the cardboard box, around the rose bowl. Then she closed the top of the box the same way that the box containing the kittens had been closed. That's better, I thought. By then, I could hardly wait to get out of there.
As I headed out of the pet store, and through the doorway into the store, the elderly store owner greeted me again, as if still expecting me to buy some bread and milk. I decided that my hands were full enough already. I was just a little bit embarrassed. "I just bought a betta fish!" I explained to him, as if it needded an explanation.
"Thanks," I said as I turned toward the pet store owner again. I looked at the old man with the dog and the young couple with the kittens, then turned and headed for the door. I chuckled and named him right there and then. "Say goodbye to Oliver!" I hollered to everyone as I left the store.
"Goodbye, Oliver!" everyone hollered back in unison, as I left with my new betta fish. It had to have been the major event of the day for the store and the pet store. "Let's go home, Oliver!" I said to my new friend.
'Splish-splash' went my wet shoes as I walked along. 'Splish-splash' resounded the water in the bottom of the rose bowl. Hope you are all right my little fish friend, I thought and silently spoke to him as I made my way homeward. I slipped on one of the crevices filled with leaves. I just cannot go for a tumble now, I thought, catching my balance just in time.
If only there had been more water in the bowl! I had visions of him banging up against the side of the bowl and injuring himself. I wondered if he'd be hurt. I was worried about him because this had to be a pretty rough ride for him.
It was getting quite a bit cooler by the time I got home. By then, there was no one in sight. I was glad. I was wondering what they would have thought seeing me carrying a cardboard so gingerly. But as it turned out, there was no need to worry or for any explanations, as it seemed that everyone had headed indoors to be out of the rain. Now little tiny snowflakes had started to form. It was actually beginning to snow! A cool breeze was blowing from the north, as I turned the corner towards the comfort of my home and walked directly into the wind.
As I entered the doorway, I was really, really glad to be at home. I was cold, but I was also very concerned about what I would find when I opened the box and took off the plastic bag from the top of the rose bowl. Quickly, I opened the box and dug the paper towel packing out of the box very carefully, finding the box of betta fish food and the still intact rose bowl that now had less than a half an inch of water in the bottom, in spite of the plastic bag over the top of the rim. Oliver, my new betta fish, seemed to be all right, but for some strange reason he was extremely quiet, as if in a state of shock.
I waited and watched him for a moment. Finally, after what seemed to be forever, I saw him start to swim around the bottom of the bowl. He did one turn and then went back to perching on his fins on the bottom of the bowl.
This is not good, I decided. It was time to put him into a larger container. He was just too quiet. I decided that rather than wait for the next two days for some new water, I would just transfer him into a larger container of water that I had left sitting on the kitchen counter, to use for watering my collection of orchids. It had been there about twenty four hours. I could not find the chlorine pellets anywhere. Somehow, they had not been included, probably because of all of the chaos in the pet store with the old man and his dog, and the younger couple and their kittens.
I knew that it was going to be risky to put him into the water but I weighed the risk and decided that it was riskier to not put him into more water. I located the container that was destined to be his new home. First, I washed it out carefully and then I washed a handful of amythest rock that I had collected and carefully placed them into the container. Then I filled it up with the day old water.
Next, very carefully, I transferred Oliver into the larger container. He was still acting really sluggish, as if stunned. I started to wonder if he was all right or if he had been injured by all of the bouncing around while I had been walking home. Maybe he was too cold? He just was not swimming, only lying there on the bottom of the container, simply doing nothing.
I waited for a while and still nothing happened. As it was beginning to get dark, I lit a candle and placed it beside him. I thought he was a goner for sure. I could hardly belief that he might not have been able to survive the move from the pet store.
Finally, I placed a plant beside him. That seemed to arouse his curiosity a bit. I was not quite certain why. I began to wonder what would happen if I put a plant in the container with him. I knew that fish generally thrive in a place where there are water plants, but this plant was not a water plant. It was simply a house plant. I wished that I had bought a bamboo plant to put into the container, as I knew that was what I had seen in the containers at the floral shop. The spider plant that I had was getting a collection of brand new shoots. Carefully, I cut one off and left a long stem on it so that I could move it about in the container of water.
This plant could kill him, if the walk home didn't injure him already. What if it made him sick? I started talking to him, as silly as it seems. Imagine me, talking to a betta fish named Oliver! Quietly, I placed the cutting from the spider plant in the container beside with him and suddenly, to my sheer amazement, he began to swim about, in and out amongst the leaves of the spider plant. First, he would go one way and then turn about and go the other way, up and down, back and forth, as if exploring his new world excitedly. He almost seemed to be scratching his back on the leaves.
Suddenly, I began to get excited too. I gave him a few pellets of his betta fish food and watched as he raced for them and hurriedly gobbled them down. He was very hungry! (Why did that not surprize me?)
So this was not going to be a 'Goodbye Oliver!' scenario after all, I realized, as I watched him chase his reflection in the mirror created by the candlelight. Instead, it was going to be something totally different. "Welcome home, Oliver!" I said breathing a huge sigh of relief. "Welcome home!"
I knew then that Oliver was going to be just fine. I also knew that he realized that he had found a new home!