Orange Fish

In a time that was much like the time we are in now but not quite, there lived a little boy and girl. They were brother and sister and while they got along most of the time, they didn't see eye to eye every minute of the day. Their names were Delilah and Kieran.

They lived in a big blue house on the corner of their street. They had a husky dog, a tabby cat and 5 guppy fish they helped their Mom and Dad take care of. One morning, after the kids had eaten their breakfast and put their clothes on for the day, Delilah went to check on their fish. Their little tank of guppies consisted of one blue fish, one black, one orange and 2 babies yet to be determined in colour. There was a real water plant, a sunken pirate ship and a little hidey-cave inside.

Delilah peered inside, worried about one fish in particular. For the last couple of days the orange fish was behaving strangely. It wasn't swimming normally and wasn't coming up for its food very much. 

"Mom, what is the matter with Orange Fish?"She asked. "I wish I could help him. Can't we take him to the Vet or something?"

"Oh Sweetheart." Their Mom said. "Our Vet won't take fish patients unfortunately. You can tell him how much you love him and check on him but sometimes fish don't live very long lives. It's just the way nature is. Let's hope he gets better soon."

Delilah put her elbows up on the desk in her Brother's room and rested her chin on her fists, staring into the tank. Kieran came in and did the same. They both looked sadly at Orange Fish as he struggled to swim around. It really didn't seem fair at all. When their cat was sick, she went to the Vet and same with their Dog. When their Mom, Dad, Grandparents, Cousins and everyone else got sick, they went to the Doctor. Why couldn't they send their fish to a Fish Doctor? The two kids sat like that for a few minutes. It was getting late and they had to start leaving for school. 

In the car on the way, Kieran tried to comfort his little Sister. He was making funny faces and pretending to be on a rollercoaster with every little hill they went down. This would usually cheer Delilah up but not today. She was just really bummed out! All during school she had trouble concentrating. Her teacher came over to her, noticing this shift in her usually outgoing, trickster of a student. 

"Delilah, are you alright" Asker her Teacher, Ms Wong."You haven't said more than two words today."

"I am feeling quite sad today, actually" Delilah said, fighting back tears. "I am afraid my fish is dying."

"Oh my goodness." Ms Wong exclaimed. "That is a very difficult, sad thing to hear. I know our pets are very important to us. It's ok to be sad."

At lunch time Kieran found his sister outside and they played a bit with their friends but Delilah was still having trouble shaking her sad mood. It just all didn't seem fair. Kieran promised they would go home later and stay beside the fish tank, talking to orange fish and helping him in any way they could. This helped her feel better. She really just wanted some way to help.

When school was finished, the kids walked in the door, took off their shoes, hung up their coats and dropped their school bags on the kitchen table. Brother and Sister walked straight upstairs and into Kierans room. Scanning the fish tank, their hearts began to race inside their chests. They looked in the hidey-cave. They looked in the sunken pirate ship. They looked under the leaves of the plant, and scoured the top then the bottom of the tank. They saw black fish, blue fish and both babies but no orange fish. He was not inside the tank at all. He was gone.

"Mom! Dad!" Kieran and Delilah shrieked.

Their parents came running up the stairs. "What??!" They yelped.

"Orange fish is gone! He isn't in the tank anywhere!" Kieran cried. "Did you take him out?"

No! We have been out all day." Mom and Dad both shook their heads.

The family looked all around the tank. There were no water splashes and no signs of an escaped swimmer. Delilah ran downstairs to check inside the cats mouth. No traces there. No traces anywhere. Orange fish had simply vanished!

That night they all got ready for bed, fed the dog, fed the cat, fed the fish and got tucked into bed. Each one of them were perplexed by what had happened while they were out that day. Had the cat eaten the fish? Had he jumped clean over the desk and out the window? Had a bird flown inside somehow and scooped him up? It was mystery. The family went to sleep and woke up the next morning. One by one they all scoured the tank once more. The missing fish was still missing.

Delilah and Kieran went to school again and had another kind of glum day. Delilah told her teacher the news about the now missing fish. She too was perplexed. Fish don't usually just disappear.

Delilah was sitting out in the courtyard of the school. Just staring off into space, not looking at anything or anyone in particular when all of a sudden a flash of colour caught her eye. The most beautiful butterfly fluttered around beside her. It did not look like just a plain old butterfly either. This one had long, feathery wings. Most shocking of all was that it was bright orange! The butterfly fluttered around some more until it landed gracefully and light right on the tip of Delilah's nose. She giggled and watched it, kind of cross eyed, as it sat there. It slowly flapped its bright orange wings. Something felt very familiar about this butterfly, like she had known it before. The creature sat there for a few more seconds and then lifted back up into the air. A few of the other kids in the courtyard noticed it and attempted to jump up and catch it. It flew up higher and higher into the sky until they could not see it anymore.

Delilah couldn't explain it but she somehow felt better. Not as worried or sad. When she saw Kieran that day after the bell rang, she told him about the butterfly encounter. He felt jealous that he hadn't seen it too but very happy to find his sister smiling.

That night as the family ate their supper together, Delilah recounted the story again. When she finished regaling them all about the bright orange feathery wings and how it landed on her nose like it was trying to tell her something meant just for her, she took a long pause.

"I know what happened to orange fish. He stopped swimming because he was never meant to swim. He wanted to fly" She told them.

And then there were 4 fish, not five.