One day, on her way home from school, Bee saw a blue goldfish in a puddle of rain. She muse at the idea of owning a pet and scoop him up and into a sandwich bag. All the way home, she look and look at the fish but his colors never change. Passing by a pet shop, she buys a small glass bowl for the fish to live in.
At home, after she makes sure there are no holes in the bowl, she pours the fish from the sandwich bag into the bowl and add some water. She then takes the bowl up to her room, careful not to spill as she move up the carpeted stairs. The sun has come out of the clouds and Bee thought perhaps he would like some sun. So she move it here and there and finally settle him in the middle of the desk where the sunlight hits the center of the bowl's edge. She pulls up a chair, sits down and watch him swim.
She thought the fish might loose its blue color if placed in fresh water but the fish stays blue, a turquoise blue with fins of yellow. The fish swims in an errant pattern. One minute his going up, the next he makes a curve and then turns ninety-degrees. Bee laughs and calls him a silly fish. She decides to call him, Billy, after her older brother who she thought is just as silly. Bee watch Billy until her mother calls her for dinner.
Each day after school, Bee sits and watches Billy and his silly movements while she does her homework. She feeds him pastel-colored flake food from the pet shop. She asked the man with the heavy beard behind the counter if there's such thing as a blue goldfish. The man smile with a surprise and answer yes. "They are very rare," he says. He ask her if she has such fish in her possession. She says, "Maybe" and gives him a small smile.
Soon Bee turns her attention to her new doll, Libby, who has the same green eyes as she does. Occasionally Bee remembers to feed Billy but soon Billy is ignored. After two weeks, the bowl becomes a murky blue and if one does look in, they will not see the fish nor anything else.
One day, Bee's mother goes to put some clean dresses in Bee's room. She saw the bowl sitting on Bee's desk. She lifts the bowl and looks under and into it but sees nothing. She would have left it there except the stench from the bowl force her move it.
When Bee comes home from school, she does not noticed the bowl. Not when she does her homework at the desk. Not after she eats dinner, takes a bath or even when she crawls into bed.
When Bee wakes up in the morning, she finally noticed the bowl. Inside are fresh water and a goldfish, but not her goldfish. This fish is orange with yellow fins. There is no trace of blue anywhere on the fish's body. Bee thought this is not Billy, not her goldfish.
After a few slices of blueberry pancakes, Bee ask her mother about the bowl and her fish. Her mother replies that she has cleaned the bowl, added fresh water and placed him back in the bowl. "Is he not there?" her mother asks.
Bee shakes her head. As much as Bee loves Billy, he is just a fish, just a fish she named after her only brother. She stops eating and starts to cry. Her mother, upon looking at her daughter, has a hanker to cry as well. She wrap her arms around her daughter. Together they went to Bee's room to take a look at the fish.
"He's the same fish that was in the bowl. I did not change him," her mother insist. She look rather confused at Bee.
"But he's not blue," Bee replies. Her lips turns upside down.
"Blue? He was orange when I scoop him out into a glass. Could he have changed colors?" Her mother turn her head sideways to look at the fish which is now swimming in an errant pattern.
Bee wonders if that's true. She knows nothing about fishes after all. Can this be her fish? Can he have change colors? He does moves in the same odd way.
Then her brother, Billy, pops his head into the room. "What's going on?" he says, looking around. They both turn to him in surprise. Billy's once blue hair is now a bright shade of orange with yellow highlights. They both laugh while Billy looks confused.
Visit Lissa at scenes from a slow-moving life
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