Monday Memories: Beaker the Japanese Koi

I've been watching the Monday Memories occasionally on a few other blogs (most notably Running2Ks blog), and thinking it would be fun to participate. So for the first time this week, I'm jumping in and playing along. The idea is just that you post a memory about pretty much anything, I think, and link to others doing the same thing.

Today I'm posting about one of my most memorable pets: a fish named Beaker.

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Note: There are a number of HTML errors in the Monday Memories code linked at the bottom of this post, so if you want to participate and want the corrected code, drop me a note and I'll e-mail it to you.

Monday Memories: Did I ever tell you about Beaker the Fish I had a lot of pets throughout my childhood--everything from frogs and snakes to dogs and cats. A few, though, were quite unusual. One of these less-typical pets was a japanese koi. People don't usually expect a large golden pond fish to have much personality, but Beaker did. We got him when he was small, and he eventually grew quite large--at least the length of my forearm and hand. He was extraordinarily friendly and would follow us around the pond. The year the pond froze over, he followed us under the ice as we slid across the surface. Beaker would come swimming over to the side of the pond whenever someone approached, even if they weren't feeding him. We called him by dabbling our fingers in the water and saying his name. It was actually our cats who taught him this--they would drink out of the pond, and Beaker would swim over to them. It was a strange and wonderful sight to see a cat and a fish bumping noses in a friendly fashion. For some reason (maybe because of his size?) our cats never tried to catch Beaker. They would sit and watch him, and when he came close they greeted him as though he were another cat. Beaker not only came when called; he liked to be petted. I'd dabble my fingers in the water and call his name, and he would come over and stick his nose out of the water for me to gently stroke it. Beaker liked to eat fish food, worms, and insects. But the best treat to feed him was brine shrimp. We'd mix them with a little water and feed them to the fish out of an old baby bottle with an enlarged hole in the nipple. He liked that a lot, and it was fun to show off that trick for visitors. With patience and lots of worms, we taught him many tricks. He would sit up in the water and beg for worms with his head sticking out into the air above. One of my favorite tricks was getting him to swim through a hoop. I'd hold my hands underwater with my fingers forming a ring, and he would swim through. Then we'd do a trick I called "fish on a pedestal". I'd hold my hand flat under the water, and Beaker would swim on top of it and stay there while I lifted him out of the water. He'd stay there for a few moments before flopping back into the pond. Beaker was a lot of fun, and we grew very attached to him. The neighborhood kids and visitors to our home always liked to see him perform tricks or hold the baby bottle for him to eat brine shrimp. One time, I remember a business acquaintance of my dad's came up to the pond to see Beaker. He was so amazed at the fish's tricks that he stepped back from the pond and went tumbling head over heels down the steep hill. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt, and laughed about it for years afterwards. We were vigilant about Beaker's safety, nursing him back to health in an aquarium when he got sick and chasing stray cats and great blue herons away from the pond. Unfortunately, a local heron finally succeeded at pulling Beaker out of the pond, even though the fish was too big for the bird to eat. My sisters and I cried when we found Beaker left gashed and lifeless on the bank of the pond. We had a little funeral for him and buried him in a special corner of the garden with a marker on his grave. Links to other Monday Memories (If you participate, leave your link in the comments and I'll post it below) Lynda Beckie Shelli Ocean Lady Jen Rowan

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