The Switcheroo

When Molly turned 3 and had an Ariel party, her friend Walker gave her a Beta fish. Molly loved her fish and the rest of us were enjoying this new pet as well until Luke came to town. After soaping up his hands, he dunked them in the fish bowl and a few minutes later, "Fishy" was a goner. Lindsey now affectionately calls him, "Luke, theboywhokilledMawly'sfish."

Molly wanted another fish but we never could find the pink Beta she was in search of. A few weeks ago Lindsey and I were at Petsmart and walked over to the fish isle. She spotted a pink Beta and wanted to buy it for Molly. We surprised Molly with her new pink Beta fish that she named "Pinky." We're not super original around here when it comes to pet's names.

Pinky was swimming around just fine for the first few days. She lived in Molly's room on her table next to her bed. She had friends come over to meet Pinky one night. Molly came down telling her friends that Pinky just must be really sleepy. David and I looked at each other alarmed. Remember, Molly's dramatic and Lindsey's currently obsessed with death. He went upstairs, confirmed privately with me that Pinky was dead. David moved Pinky into the bathroom and told the girls she was asleep but needed her bowl cleaned and that we'd take care of that in the morning.

The next morning, while David had the girls in the bath, I went to Petsmart in hopes of finding another pink Beta. No luck. I bought a purple fish instead, got home while David still had them occupied in the bathroom, flushed Pinky, cleaned the bowl, and put the new "Pinky" back into Molly's room. Lindsey was the first to notice that "Pinky" was now purple. She screamed to Molly to come and see her fish. Molly couldn't believe Pinky was now purple and David couldn't believe his ears as he heard me tell our girls that "Pinky" must be the special type of rainbow Beta that changes colors. And so, we have a magical fish, that changes from pink to purple.

On the way home from Florida Molly and Lindsey were talking about what color "Pinky" now also known as "Rainbow" might be when they see her. I reminded them that she could have turned blue, red, or orange. And then quietly called our pet sitter to make sure she wasn't going to have to do another switcheroo before we made it back to Columbia.

Ahhh, no need to have her run out to Petsmart. "Rainbow" was still purple when we arrived home. We'll let you know when "Rainbow" turns another color...I just hope it's not for a very long time.