There was once a young man who had a goldfish. It lived in a square bowl inside of a white plastic castle with a little submariner who wore a big brass helmet.
Everyday the young man would watch the fish circle around his castle, big fins swirling the water, going about his fishy day and doing his fishy errands and forgetting things as quickly as he could remember to remember them.
The young man watched and chuckled and sometimes wondered about his fish. Was he happy as a fish in a pond or was he sad as a fish in a pond? Did he think about the sea or did the little fish wonder if the sea thought about him?
He'd chuckle and sprinkle little leaves of food and watch him make tiny bubbles on the surface while he ate, before turning in to sleep himself.
One day, the young man had a terrible day, he failed his tests at school, and left his backpack on the city bus. He tied his shoes so well he couldn't get them off and had to cut his favorite orange laces in two. He cried and his dad would not hold his hand and instead sent him to bed with no dinner. He knew his teachers would scream at him tomorrow without his homework in hand. He would try to explain that bad luck was the blame and they would not care nor understand.
That night as he sobbed and went sad to sleep, body sore from too much crying, the fish watched him weep and yawned, wiped his fin feet, and went inside his castle to lie down.
"Mr. submariner," the fish asked I need to cheer up a friend. Do you think you can do me a favor?"
"Sure," said he, all bubbly, "I think I can help you out."
"I need there to be a rainbow outside, when day breaks, near the window beside that bed in the corner way over there."
"Well you see," said the man, bubbles blowing from his brass head, "to do that is not at all easy. Rainbows only come when angels laugh til the cry and those tears fall down on trees. The trees shake in the breeze from the mouths of angel belly laughs and they catch little colds and sneeze. The colors fly up and loop back down and that is the rainbow we see."
"How, Mr. Submariner, how can I tell a joke so funny they'll hear. With all the prayers flying up in the air it will never reach their ears."
"Give me tonight, and I'll give it a thought and I will make a joke for you. But in the meantime, don't you worry a wink. Lay your fins on your pebbles and sleep."
The very next day as the young man woke, tears still dry on his face, he walked to his window, stretched and yawned and a smile began to grow on his face.
He whistled a tune to the summer sky, to the rain soaked air, and to the largest rainbow he ever saw. Inside his heart he knew the day was still young, but he knew too he would be okay.
The fish awoke late, the young man long gone, and rushed to the submariner, in a daze.
"Mr. Submariner! Mr. Submariner! Did it work? Did it work? What on earth did you say?"
"I told the angels, just before dawn, that a fish I knew needed a favor. I told them that if they did me this one favor I would love Jesus until the day I died and they, already shocked that I could talk, split their sides at my wager."
///Coco O - "Where the Wind Blows" sweet dreams, ghosts.
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