A fish tale

When I was a youngster, a yearly family tradition was to go to the St. Mary's carnival. It's a tradition that has continued with my family. And thankfully, it is one of the very few things that has not changed since my childhood. There is still the silent auction, the raffle, the white elephant, and the halls are still decorated with large drawings of cartoon characters. Each year there are some new games, but you can still find shuffle board, the duck pond and fishing for a prize. And of course, you can still win a goldfish. We were never allowed to even play for a chance to win a goldfish. We begged, pleaded and whined I'm sure, but my parents never gave in. I never came home from the carnival with a goldfish. I don't think I ever forgave my parents for that until I became a parent myself. Now it is my turn each year to tell my kids that "no, you can't play the goldfish game." We have never come home with a goldfish. That is until this year. I made the mistake of letting Fred take the boys to games, while I took Cordelia to the easier games. Later, when we took a break for some cotton candy and pizza, Rion couldn't wait to tell me that he had won a goldfish. I apparently forgot to warn the husband about the no goldfish policy. Rion was very excited about it so I forgave Fred. Rion named his goldfish "Goldie". St. Mary's goldfish have a reputation for not living very long. Goldie lasted about three days. And since we had the tank all set up and the kids liked Goldie, Fred went out and bought two new fish. This time he got two mollies. One of these mollies is black and gold so Torii named it "Steeler". About two days later we learned Steeler is a girl. Now we have about ten fish swimming around. One prize fish has resulted in ten. The kids are never ever playing the goldfish game again. And I'll make sure to warn Fred next year.