The Fish of Good Fortune

This is a work of fiction. No real people, places or events were used. Copyright 2011 Plot Roach.

The Fish of Good Fortune

By Plot Roach

Betty watched the goldfish zip back and forth in the large aquarium. Its siblings swam or hovered in place, content to munch on the live plants in the tank with them or to stare at the customers who paused to watch them.

I wonder what they are thinking, Betty asked herself. A big group of the goldfish were condensed, almost ball-like in the center of the tank. While the one fast fish continued it rounds, this time bouncing off the glass walls of the tank. Doesn’t that hurt?, she thought. And then a flash followed by a minute “thunk”. the fish had flipped itself out of the tank to land on Betty’s tennis shoe. The right shoe to be precise.

A worker, using a plastic green hand net to scoop out the fatalities of the day looked at Betty and raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t do it, I swear.” was all she could say. She would have backed away from the fish tank and run from the shop, but the goldfish was still flopping on her foot. The pet shop employee merely reached over, plucked the fish from her foot and dumped it back into the tank with its fellow miniature carp.

He sighed, dumped the dead fish from his small green plastic net into a small garbage bin and stood up, gesturing for her to follow. Betty was frozen to the spot, as if the goldfish had sent an invisible nail through her foot the moment it had made contact with her sneaker. “I uh….” she stammered.

“You’re not in trouble.” the man said. “You just need to see something, is all.”

Betty looked around her, wishing that her mother or father had decided to go to the pet store with her, rather than let her go by herself. She had argued earlier with them that she was twelve, and needed her own space. Now she wished that she had not won that argument after all. She finally pried herself loose of the dark brown carpet and followed the man. He paused at the backroom and Betty knew she should not enter it without another adult present, yet she felt sucked behind him as if drawn like a magnet. He left the curtain open to the back room, as if sensing her thoughts. He pointed to the pictures on the walls of the room, some of which she recognized.

“Do you know them?’ he asked.

“Some. Like that one is the president. And that lady’s picture over there… Isn’t she the doctor who found a cure for that weird disease that kills kids?”

He nodded and said: “There’s a reason why their pictures are here. And it has something to do with you. Do you know why?”

Betty merely shook her head, taking a step back to run in case the man got weird.

“Relax” he said. “All these people are very influential to those around them. Some are leaders, some healers and others just lead by example. All of them are making the world a better place. And you will too.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because of the goldfish.”

“The one that landed on my foot?”

“Yes. My grandfather ran this store, before passing it onto my father. He passed it on to me. All the while one thing remained the same: when the goldfish jumps from the tank onto the foot of a person in this shop, that person is destined for greatness.”

“A goldfish? And it landing on my foot means that I’ll be someone special?”

“I have no doubt of it, young lady. It happened with them, didn’t it?”

Betty smiled, blushed a bit and backed away. “Is that all?” she asked.

“The carp is a symbol of prosperity, good fortune and a happy fate. Let it lead you to the path where you belong.”

And with that, the man dismissed her. Her head was still swimming like the goldfish that escaped the tank. I’m supposed to be someone special? She asked herself. Yet somehow, she felt the truth of it deep within her heart. She would carry this memory for the rest of her lifetime and use it to inspire her even in the worst of times.

Meanwhile the man returned back to his task of cleaning the aquariums of dead and dying fish. His grandfather, back from his lunch break, sidled up to the man and clapped him on the back. “I heard what you said to that girl, Lee.”

“And?”

“When a fish jumps from the tank it only means that it’s sick and about to die. What was with all that talk about fate and good luck? You know I only keep those pictures in back because they‘re autographed.”

“Everyone needs a nudge now and again, Grandpa.”

“Just don’t make a habit out of it, boy. The last thing we need are people coming here to wait for suicidal fish to tell them that they’re special.”