Spike. The suicidal beta fish.

At 7am this morning my sister burst into my room and said very loudly "Did the fish die?!"

I know what you're thinking, I too have heard that question asked one too many times. At 7am. While half asleep.

Then she told me he wasn't in his bowl, and that she even looked through the rocks at the bottom and couldn't find him. Rylee's fish Spike had vanished. Poof.

This was enough mystery to scrape me out of bed, so I joined her in the kitchen getting a spoon to look through the rocks once again, just to double check. A couple days before my sister told me he was digging through the rocks trying to bury himself, so I really thought he'd be down there, somewhere, but nope.

And then our conversation went something like this:

Jaffy: "Someone stole our fish!"

Jamie: "No one stole our fish."

Jaffy: "Someone STOLE our FISH!"

Jamie: "How could someone have stolen our fish, why would anyone steal our fish?"

Jaffy: "Well then where is he?"

"He's right THERE!" Suddenly I saw him laying just a few inches from my sisters feet. A helpless, shriveled, and most certainly dead, Spike.

We're not sure, but we think he jumped out of his bowl, flopped his way off our table, and then flopped away a few more feet. I think his first attempt at ending his life was trying to use the weight of the rocks to crush his body, but when that didn't work, he got desperate. How else do you explain it?

The worst part about this was that Spike was our replacement fish for Goldie, Rylee's first beloved beta. When we told her she had died, Rylee was more than a little upset. She sobbed, and sobbed, wanted to keep Goldie in a box in her room and after we told her no, we can't keep a dead fish in your room, she wanted a picture of them together and then a funeral. We buried Goldie in a box with a special note from Rylee and then put a pretty rock on top. On Christmas eve I caught her leaving presents on her grave site. So much love for one little fish.

Rylee's reaction was better this time, but there were still some crocodile tears to be shed. We tossed around the idea for a few other pets she could have, until finally we came up with the best idea for a pet EVER. A pet rock. They don't die! She loved the idea.

So Rylee and I found some rocks in the yard and painted them. Meet our new rock family.


How freggin cute are they? She put them in a "cage" with grass and a stick and kitty treats. Soon we'll teach them some tricks. You'll see.