I attended a funeral last week. There were four of us present. Three of us work together here in the office. The fourth was the dead one. The funeral was held in the ladies' room.
Our office mascot, Nemo, had kicked the bucket. He hung in for a long time, seemingly waiting for Sally, his owner, to come back from vacation. We were happy he did that, not wanting to dispose of him without her approval and attendance. Sally tends to be overly emotional [a very conservative statement] and none of us wants to be the one trapped in her office when she cries and sobs as if the world had blown up, when in actuality, someone just didn't agree with her.
Nemo was a Siamese Beta Fighting Fish. He was reddish in color. He is now dead. He died of old age. As soon as Sally came back, he went belly up. Her wailing not withstanding, I was able to fish him out of his bowl easily. We began the funeral procession down the hall.
We gathered in the handicap stall [it's the only way all of us could fit], looked at each other solemnly and then I carefully lowered the fish net into the bowl of the toilet. He floated out slowly and settled on the bottom. I looked at Sally and Kathy, both looking appropriately sad [Sally looking worse and sobbing, of course], got the silent nod and pushed the lever.
He schwooped out of there quickly. The toilet made a horrid noise much like it was burping after a large meal. The toilets in our ladies' room leave much to be desired, such as actually flushing everything the first time you flush. Usually, you have to grab an extra handful of toilet paper and use it to "encourage" the stuff in the bowl to find the hole out of there. It's easier than it sounds, but is still an extra step I'd rather not have to continue to perform. Luckily, I didn't have to perform this with Nemo's departure.
Article comments
1 - Aaman
The name of the fish, incidentally, is 'betta'(Betta Splendens) - related to the gouramis, they are anabantids - using a specialized breathing apparatus which allows them to take in fresh air, besides filtering the oxygen in water. They are very interactive and friendly, as long as you do not have another male in their vicinity. Keeping them in those tiny bowls is torture. They truly flare out and are much happier in a somewhat larger-sized tank, at least a 10-gallon, with good foliage.
Nice post - ty - hope you didn't get into much trouble with your colleague about the disharmonious funeral
2 - Eric Olsen
death be not proud and is always sad, although such a level of pomp is inevitably funny as well -thanks Chari!
3 - NancyGail
Awww...
4 - swingingpuss
Most of us tend to flush their dead/live fish down the toilet but the done thing is to place the dead fish in regular garbage bag along with the other trash and or say au revoir by giving it a decent burial.
As far as disposing live fish goes- one can either euthanise the fish by putting it in a plastic bag filled with water and then in the freezer or use carbonated water.
My very first fish was a betta and I too felt bad when he went belly up for about a day or two. But since then I have a stronger fish killing heart.
As far as the obituary goes it is a fish lover thing and hey for her maybe Nemo was a part of the office family:)
Nice post.
5 - SiameseFightFish=BettaSplendens
How sad! A funeral though. hehe It is sad, but I always flush mine. Bye bye little fishie. I freeze partially dying ones. As someone said, the best tank for a Betta is 10 gallon+!