My Sister Told Me To Write This!

I hope you will understand

that writing this is an exercise.

An exercise that I hope will make something happen.

What you see .. is it a premonition or just the norm?

What you do...is it predetermined or purposely performed?

What you hear...was it in the same parallel as the person sitting next to you?

What you feel...was it because of years of perceptions or was it brand new?

This exercise then; will it tell a story or fall down flat?

A few less than golden iambic pentameter syllables

Leaving not even an echo in its wake.

Am I ready? And the world; is it ready as well?

After all, Harold and the Purple Crayon it is not.

Well...Only one way to find out!

Norman was a Cory, he came from a spectacular line of Cory’s and Norman was the most Cory of them all. He was a stand out in the breeding tank, with his speckled coat of two toned grey. He flashed with luminescent highlights under the fluorescent lights in the supermarket for pets of all pets. Norman was sure he would be taken quick quick to a penthouse aquarium apartment and live in blissful boredom for all his Cory days.

Poor Norman. Naivety is so unbecoming of a Cory. He must have been daydreaming of his sword plant hideaway the day the Cory teacher was talking about THE REAL WORLD. Nonetheless, once that dream was shattered (approximately 72 hours in the smallest aquarium without regular meals and definitely without adequate foliage to use as his night night blanket) he began to listen to the other peppered Cory’s in his tank and he became ENLIGHTENED. The real world was cruel. The real world relished slipping perfectly innocent fish, Cory’s included, down the clockwise spinning basin of semi liquid wasteland. The real world let filters go days and days beyond the red full mark on the best filters of them all, Whisper Tetra. The real world Believed that catfish ate what was left on the bottom of the tank so they did not have to be fed anything EVER!

However, once Norman's brave Cory heart slowed its faltering palpations and his superbly crafted Cory brain received adequate oxygen again; Norman, being the spectacular peppered Cory catfish from a spectacular line of all Cory’s that he was, decided he needed to SORT THINGS OUT. Norman stopped daydreaming, he stopped smiling at his most resplendent coat in the reflection of the tank walls and he began to PAY ATTENTION!

What he discovered both delighted and dismayed him. Norman found that humans were a lot like fish and more than that a lot like catfish. He even admitted there were similarities between humans and...Gasp!...Peppered Cory Catfish! Humans did not relish sending fish to the great white basin in the storage closet; Nora could see their faces grimace and the shudders the made when they scooped dead fish from his tank. Humans made sure the filters were cleaned very regularly (it would be a while before Norman discovered humans did this to avoid the green algae building up on the inside of the tanks...he just was glad to see the filters changed!)

 He didn't realize, in his newest days that humans were a LOT like fish, more than a bit lazy, willing to avoid work at all cost, even when it meant expending just a smidgen of effort first. But most pleasant of all to discover was that humans love to eat as much or MORE than fish! Norman could see them, eating away, right beyond the safety glass of his supermarket petland aquarium tank. Better than that, humans made sure all the fish in all the tanks were fed exactly what the cards printed below their tanks specified they needed to be fed! Better than all of those truths was the last one: Humans loved to take fish home to live in their own home aquariums! OH JOY! Norman lived for the day that he too would go to a home aquarium of his very own!

Still, knowing both truths, the Cory truth, so extreme it would make the most stalwart of Cory go belly up in despair and the truth as Norman saw it, beyond the safety glass of his supermarket pet land in the universe did not make the long days and lonely nights go any faster or become immediately compelling. But Norman was determined and Norman believed in a higher power. Those two truths stood him in good stead.

And then! It happened! A Human asked for the Peppered Cory Catfish!! Imagine Norman’s great joy and unbound delight! Norman gathered up his beautifully flowing catfish whiskers and swam straight into the green net! He was on his way! His supermarket pet land keeper poured Norman's water into the plastic bag and added oxygen and tied up his bag with a flourish! Norman was hand carried with love and care to the register and purchased with a smile and a one dollar donation to the local animal shelter.

On the ride home Norman tried to stay calm but he was very excited, he bumped into the sides of his plastic bag a few times but eventually arrived at his new home safe and sound. His HUMAN...what a delight to hear those words inside his Cory brain...his HUMAN...let the plastic bag float in the new aquarium just long enough and the transfer was accomplished with expertise!

Norman was STUNNED! His new aquarium was bigger than anything his Cory brain could have imagined! And it had real live plants and multitudes of gracefully swaying night night sword plant blanket leaves to float under, when the timer switched the lights off. His substrate was layered! There was a planted upper tier on the south side of the deepest portion of the tank! That soon became Norman’s favorite resting spot after the regular duties of his Cory kind. All the other fishes were so nice! They all exclaimed "hello hello what’s your name name" between the gurgling of the Dragon and the Disc air bubblers.

DRAGON? Oh dear, that did cause a start! So lifelike crouched behind the moneywort! No wonder the moneywort still had most of its leaves; the other fish were slightly intimidated by the dragon as well! What a comfort!

Soon enough Norman was settled right into his new aquarium home. Norman delighted in his Human, especially when he found that his Human loved to study not only himself but all the fish in the aquarium. Once Norman discovered that he made it his lifetime achievement to show his Human exactly what made Norman the Peppered Cory Catfish SPECTACULAR! Norman began to stir up the wake, in Cory speak. He would get a long swimming start and go full blast from the lowest part of the tank straight up and out of the water at the top! Norman didn't even blink when he bumped his noggin on the underside of the tank cover! He just loved to hear his Human laugh with delight and say "Norman! You show off! I just love you Norman!"

Norman was happy he had his new aquarium tank home and his very own resting place in the deepest portion of the south end of the aquarium. Norman was thankful he had a sword plant for his night night blanket to float under and most of all, Norman was grateful he hadn't let those other fish frighten him into going belly up back at the supermarket pet land.

Because then Norman would never have gotten to keep his very own Human!