Partnership

A modern Aesop's fable of abandonment

Actor Mark Wahlberg says that the key to marriage is partnership.  Good enough for me. That guy really seems to have his act together.  My wife and I, too, are partners.  Much the way a goldfish and its owner are partners.  The goldfish counts on his owner for every single aspect of his happiness and survival.  The owner, in exchange, occasionally looks to the goldfish for brief amusement.  And then quickly moves about her day. 

My wife went on an overnight trip with our oldest daughter this week.  That meant she left me with five other helpless goldfish.  But a goldfish can’t feed other goldfish.  A goldfish doesn’t bathe other goldfish.  And a goldfish most certainly does not know how to quiet down the other goldfish so he can take a nap. This was going to be an aquatic disaster. I figured I’d be floating belly up and lifeless by the end of her trip.  So I did what any of you in similar waters would do.  I called my mom.

Postscript.  The goldfish all survived, even thrived.  I was right to call in the big fish.  But the owner, upon her return, complained that the tank was a mess.  I guess she’s a tank half empty kind of gal.  I think she needs to understand you can only expect so much from a goldfish.

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