THE WISDOM OF GOLDFISH
by Stephanie Kraner
1.
I am in the kitchen on the table.
In a bowl I am swimming on the table in the kitchen.
A couple lives here. I live on their table in a bowl.
The bowl is filled with water.
The man isn’t home. He lives here but he’s not home.
The woman is making tea.
I am swimming in a bowl on the kitchen table in the house where the couple lives.
2.
From my bowl in the kitchen on the table I see the woman weep.
She wasn’t weeping earlier but she is now.
This afternoon when I was swimming the man and woman were shouting.
The man was home this afternoon. He isn’t home now.
I was in my bowl when the man was home and he shouted at the woman.
I listened when he told the woman that she was different.
He didn’t like her different.
I was on the table when the woman told the man that he was the same.
And that she wished he wasn’t.
They didn’t care that I was in my bowl in the kitchen while they shouted at each other.
3.
I hear the teakettle whistle while I’m swimming in the kitchen.
The woman lifts her head. The man still isn’t home.
I watch her make herself a cup of tea. She doesn’t see me.
She knows I’m on the table but she doesn’t look.
The door opens and the man walks in.
He sees the woman drinking tea at the table and he stands across the room looking at her.
He doesn’t see me in my bowl.
I listen to him tell her how good things used to be.
He doesn’t understand why they aren’t good anymore.
She used to laugh but now she doesn’t.
She used to talk to him but now she doesn’t.
He doesn’t understand.
I’m swimming in my bowl on the table in the kitchen and the man is talking to the woman.
The woman drinks her tea and doesn’t look at him.
She whispers something.
I hear her but the man doesn’t. He tells her to speak up.
The woman sets her cup on the table and says it again.
I am in the kitchen on the table when the breath catches in the man’s throat.
4.
In my bowl on the kitchen table I am swimming.
The man is holding his breath and the woman is drinking her tea.
The man wasn’t home but he came home. Now he is staring at the woman.
She is staring at the table.
I am swimming on the table.
The woman told the man that she didn’t love him anymore and the man held his breath.
He still doesn’t understand.
I am on the table but I understand.
He asks her how long and she tells him awhile.
He gets angry again and shouts at her.
He shouted at her earlier too.
I was in the kitchen on the table when he shouted and she shouted back.
Neither of them understands.
5.
I am swimming in the kitchen when the man pounds his fist against the table.
The woman stands up. I hide behind the plant in my bowl.
I hear him take a step forward and I hear her take three steps backward.
He is angry. She is frightened.
She doesn’t love him anymore and he doesn’t understand.
6.
I am hiding behind the plant in my bowl while the man and woman stare at each other.
The woman was weeping but she isn’t anymore
The man wasn’t home but he came home.
I was swimming in my bowl when the woman told the man that she didn’t love him.
Now the woman is on the other side of the table so the man can’t get to her.
He is angry but he isn’t holding his breath anymore.
The woman is holding hers.
The man shoves the table aside and the woman runs out the door.
My bowl falls to the floor and shatters.
The man doesn’t notice. He chases the woman outside. He doesn’t understand.
I am on the floor in the kitchen holding my breath but I understand.
I am suffocating but I understand what the man and the woman don’t understand.
The table in the kitchen is on its side. My bowl is in pieces.
The man and the woman are gone and I am holding my breath on the floor.
But I understand.
I understand that some things just end.
Stephanie Kraner is a freelance writer, editor, pet foster, fish breeder, and general Jill of all trades. She enjoys moonlit walks on the beach and reading submissions for the e-zine she created, Loose Yarns. To date, her fiction has appeared (or will appear) in flashquake, Anotherealm, The Battered Suitcase, Defenestration, Fissure, and Static Movement. Contact Stephanie.
