Jamy has her cats... I have a fish. And one of the many things on my mind about the trip is:  What am I going to do with that fish? That and the house... But the house isn't alive. You can abondone a house. It's been done.
     Abondoning a fish however, is a felon... in the district... of Beersheba.  Or so I've heard it said.

So, here's the story of the fish:
(which is definately NOT a "fish tale")

     One day Javier calls me at work (UTA maybe?).   I pick up the fone and say my name.  (My way of indicating I'm at work and not just some guy answering some phone).  Back at me in a distinctly defeated voice for ten in the morning, "So, are you gonna take my borther's fish or what?"

"Javier?"
"Yeah, it's me.  Are you going to take Macello's red belly piranha?"
"Javier, what are you talking about?  Take your brother's fish where?"
"Take him into your house, the tiny ranch, and give him a loving home.  Didn't you get the e-mail?"
"No, I didn't get an e-mail and I have no idea what you're talking about, but yea, I'll take the fish."
"Cool! I knew you would!  I thought it was odd that you didn't respond to the e-mail.  So, you know he's a piranha right?  And you're cool with that?"
"I guess I'm cool with that... I haven't had a pet that I have to feed other pets to, in quite a while."
"Well here's your chance to adopt a carnivourish fish."
"You know I've done nothing but kill goldfish in that new 7G tank I just got like five months ago..."
"Well, he's desperate.  He needs to have some contractors in to fix a leak in the room or something.  The fish and the fiftyfive gallon tank have to go.  Tonight."
"Tonight?"

     So I spent a good portion of that day surfing the Internet for information about Amazonian redbelly piranhas.  I found some good stuff and after a while I felt pretty comfortable that I could take of this fish and probably not kill him.  Right away.

     I met Marcello that night at his place in Georgetown.  He was on a mission:  Marcello had already been hard at work on the tank for a while.  The enourmous mother fish was in a giant trash can -chillin in just a few gallons of water.  Marcello would later inform me, he had also cleaned the lids and most of the equipment, the gravel and done a bunch of other great fish-owner things for me.  Which he was right to do, because I didn't have a clue.

     The fish in the trash can went into the back of my little red wagon.  So did most of the other equipment.  The tank itself however, I think actually rode in Marcello's Mercedes (pre-crash) Benz.  So he was seriously putting himself out to help me take of this fish in one night.

     It turns out this fish was eight years old.  And could easily live to be twenty-five!  He was raised in captivity and purchased at a pet store (in Gaithersburg?) in a group of four.  As the story goes, they lasted as a school for a while.  But eventully captivity and close proxomty perhaps, drove them to cannilibism.  The biggest one went for the smallest.  Not too long after that the two middles ganged up on the biggun, and it was not too much time at all before the smarter of the two remaining realized where this was going... and finished the drama -Shakespeare style.

     So, I've had this fish, I now call Pinky for almost two years now I guess.  We've had many adventures I can speak of later:  like the time he tried to eat me while I was dusting, thus ending my dusting career forever.  Or the time I got Pinky a friend... who he ate in three days.  Or the time I fed him the twenty-five baby fish that he couldn't catch and almost drove him into arrest...   ahhh the memories...

     But where will Pinky go?  Will the new caretakers of The Tiny Ranch on Piney Branch be able to care for Pinky?  Will Marcello want him back?  I need to call him.

     Marcello was over till about one in the morning the night he gave me the fish.  I couldn't thank him enough.  He said that it was I who was doing him the favor and that it was not that easy to get rid of an eight year old fish.  We steup the tank, transferred the thirty-odd gallons of water we saved, the gravel, the fish, the wood, the two jets, the three spill filters and then performed several water tests.

     Pinky immediately took to his new environment in my family room.  I'm in the room all the time, listening to loud music or playing guitar or whatever.  The first thing I noticed about him, is that he can see outside the tank.  He knows what's going on.  It's really odd to see a fish take interest in what's going on...  Did I mention he's a really big fish?

     My little seven gallon tank became a great feeder barn and Pinky put on wieght.  For a long time I continued to send Marcello updates via text messages to his phone...  However those stopped after a few months.  He knows that Pinky has had a great home.  But maybe it is time for Pinky to move to back to Georgetown?  Time will tell.  And then I will tell you.  Goodnight.