Diary of a Lonely Guppy

September 7

Nike jumped today.

I don't know why she did. We were perfectly happy here, with the broom lady and the crazy lady and all the kids. The crazy lady would feed us, and sometimes the broom lady too. And it was good food. The crazy lady made sure our tank was clean and full of interesting things - like my castle and Nike's shell - and she gave us gifts at Christmas time. I got this diary. Nike got a tiny pair of human shoes, but I don't think she liked them much.

I still don't believe Nike's gone. She just jumped right out of the tank and onto the floor, and by the time the broom lady came in Nike had to be dead. There's no way any guppy could survive ten whole minutes on the floor, completely surrounded by air.

I think it's the crazy lady's fault, She forgot to cover the tank. Nike never liked the tank much, and so she jumped out. I think she wanted to get back to the blue room, where the crazy lady found us, with all of our old friends.

I never missed the blue room before. It was weird and smelly and the water was stale. Plus, there were too many other guppies that were way more interesting than me, and it was too unlikely that any human would ever come and pick me out.

But now that Nike's gone, I've started thinking about it. There are no more guppies in this tank in the crazy room. All my friends are in the tank in the blue room, and the closest thing I have to a friend here is the crazy lady, and she let Nike jump.

The tank is nice, really. There are a bunch of colourful stones on the bottom, and at the top, there's a spot where a bunch of bubbles and warm water shoots down from somewhere. It's ticklish. Nike calls it a "spa". There's also a plant in one corner, a shell in another and a little castle in a third. I like the castle. It makes me feel like I'm important somehow.

Except for now.

I'm on the balcony of the castle right now, writing, and I can see everything in the tank. I can also see Nike, just outside the tank, where the broom lady put her. Up here used to be a spot where I could rise above anything that was happening, but how can you rise above something if you can always see it?

Fish don't blink. Humans do, and I envy them for it. They can close their eyes and not think about whatever they don't want to think about. I can't do that. I have to sit, staring at Nike until the crazy lady shows up with the kids and they do something with Nike. But that won't be for another two days. Guess I'll have to live by myself for a while.

The kids called her Nike. They called her that because of a black spot on her back that apparently looked like a checkmark. It wasn't her real name, but since humans can't understand when fish speak, they don't know we have names.

The kids call me Reebok because they call Nike Nike. I don't understand humans. My real name isn't Reebok, but that's better than the name they gave me in the blue room: Red Guppy #457.

I like the kids. They're quiet and strange, and they all sit on things called "chairs" next to things called "desks" and stare at the crazy lady for a while, and then they leave and new kids come in. It happens about five times a day. But I like the last group the best.

They don't sit quietly at the desks and listen, as most kids do. They sit on top of them, or next to them, or they turn their chairs around, or they don't use chairs at all. And they aren't quiet. Ever. They yell and shout and call and sing, and they talk to the crazy lady like she's their best friend.

I think the crazy lady likes them the best, too. She gives them odd colourful things that make them really happy after they eat them. Then they give her hugs. It must be nice to have kids like that.

But it's very strange with the other groups of kids. If they even whisper while the crazy lady is talking, she tells them to stop. If they fidget too much, she asks them to leave. Not the last group, though. She encourages them to fidget, and they talk over each other all the time.

I don't understand the crazy lady. That's why she's crazy.

But, then again, I don't understand a lot of things.

The kids called her Nike.

Until she jumped.

Now, they'll call her dead.