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Hamish, the fish, lived in a round
fishbowl made of beautiful, clear, crystal. It was always sparkling clean.
Inside the bowl was a gray, stone castle. It had a drawbridge, several
windows, and if you looked real close, you could see gargoyles on the
castle walls. Next to the castle was a rather large stone. It was brown
with little silvery speckles in it. Some blue-marbled pebbles lined the
bottom of the bowl and the castle stood on them.
Hamish loved his fish bowl. He was
happy swimming around in it, going through the front door of the castle
and coming out the back. He loved swirling around and around the large
stone. Sometimes he’d swim up and put his face right up to the glass to
look out and see what was going on around him. The curved bowl made his
eyes look huge and googley.
Christmas was coming soon. Hamish
could tell. Across from his bowl stood a tree, decorated from top to
bottom with red, gold and green ornaments. He could see the reflection of
his bowl in a gold one. Once he wiggled his tail back and forth and saw it
in the ornament. He blew bubbles and laughed. Hamish wanted to put
Christmas decorations in his castle.
One day, when nobody was in the
house, Hamish took a big mouthful of water. He swam over to the edge of
his bowl and used his fins to lean against it. He spit the water at one of
the ornaments on the big tree. The red ornament fell off the branch and
landed right in his glass bowl. Slowly, it sank to the bottom. Hamish
smiled.
Using his fins, he rolled the
ornament into the castle. It took up a lot of space, but Hamish didn’t
mind. He swam around the red glass ball, looking at his reflection. He had
so much fun with it that he wanted another one.
He swam over to the edge of the
glass bowl and gulped a mouthful of water. He spit at the tree and knocked
a green ornament off the branch. It tumbled into his bowl and sank slowly
to the bottom. Hamish pushed it into his castle, using his tail. Now it
was very crowded in there. He didn’t have enough room to swim in and out
of the arched doorway anymore, but he had so much fun looking at himself
in the glass balls that he didn’t care.
One more, thought Hamish. He wanted
one more ornament. He filled his mouth with water, swam over to the side
of his bowl, pulled himself up with his fins and spit the water at a gold
ornament. It fell from the branch and landed with a soft plop, right in
his bowl. It filled with water and sank to the bottom. Hamish looked at
the gold ball. There was no more room in his castle. He would have to
leave it sitting on the blue-marbled pebbles.
The crystal fishbowl was crowded. He
didn’t have room to swim at all anymore. He had to stay in one place all
the time, right next to the large stone. After a while, Hamish tired of
looking at his face, fin, and tail’s reflections in the balls. He wanted
them out of his fishbowl. He didn’t want to have any Christmas decorates
in there any longer.
He tried to lift the gold ball up,
but it was full of water and wouldn’t budge. He tried to push the green
ball out of the castle, but the gold ball was in the way and it wouldn’t
move either. Hamish didn’t know what to do. All he wanted was his castle
back the way it was, empty and clear, so he could swim around like he used
to.
Later that day, the little girl who
lived in the house came to look at the Christmas tree. Since Hamish’s bowl
was so crystal clear, she was able to see inside of it. "How did those
ornaments get in there?" she wondered. She stuck her hand in the bowl and
pulled out the gold ball. She dumped the water out of it and put it back
on the tree. Hamish was happier. He swam around in the bowl. Next, she
reached in and lifted the castle out of the water. The two ornaments were
still inside of it. The girl dumped the water out and pulled the red ball
and green ball from the castle. She then put it back in the fishbowl.
At last Hamish’s bowl was like it
used to be. He swam inside the castle and out the other side. He did this
over and over again. He swam around the large stone and blew lots of happy
bubbles. From then on, Hamish was content to admire the colorful ornaments
from inside his bowl and leave them on the tree where they belonged. |
