the pet
He found the Betta in a public bathroom. Still and suspended in the middle of the toilet bowl like a piece of unflushed… His immediate instinct was to yell aw, come on! and flush it. It was entirely possible that he carried out these instincts but to this day he vehemently denies it. Be that as it may the following is all true: his hand did reach the flush handle, a force was exerted that ended up causing a sizeable whirlpool - a toilet-vortex, if you will - and the fish did get caught in the spin. Not unlike the Salmon escaping the clutches of a hungry Kodiak, it plopped out of the bowl tracing a perfect parabola and landed on the floor flipping and flopping. He stood there unblinking for a good ten seconds — a fish in a toilet bowl? And all the seemingly unconnected gears in his head started clicking and notching and setting things in motion. He immediately scooped the fish in his cupped hands and dunked it in the toilet bowl to collect some of that unholy water. He then darted out and just as quickly darted into a hair salon nearby and demanded a plastic cover — blue, green, transparent; really, any damn thing would do — and introduced the fish into another makeshift home. Filled it with clear water this time and took it with him to a real home. But of course that’s not the version he tells anyone who cares to ask. He says he bought it at the local pet store. He paid 250 Rupees.