flickr foto from kamillo!

Okay, so Goldie and I Dunno are baby koi fish, so calling this a love story is a little overwrought. We bought the pair yesterday from the unbelievably smelly pet store in New Town in Key West (how anyone can work in a place that smells like ferret ass is beyond me). Dalia was well-prepared to name hers, calling her gold-colored fish Goldie. Nico was less decisive, saying I Dunno until I decided to end it there and make that the name.

I don’t know if the fish love each other. They sorta disappeared as soon as we put them in the pond. They are probably little backstabbers who will now fight each other for dominance of the pond for years to come.

I don’t know if the kids love the fish. But I do.

I had a friend in college who was kind of a self-absorbed prick, always wanting other people to entertain him and keep him happy–until, that is, he started dating someone needier than him. And then he was absorbed in taking care of her, and he himself became much more pleasant to hang around.

That same dynamic is why it was such an inspired idea that my mother had to get these koi. The kids have been driving me near-insane with their constant whining, carping and pleading. But as soon as they had the baby koi carp as a project, they forgot about their deranged, constantly changing list of demands and began thinking about how to take care of the carp: how to introduce them to the pond, how to try to feed them. Like my friend in college, they became much more pleasant to be around once they had to actually take care of someone else.

The carp that stopped the carping: now that’s a love story.