A Fish in Time....or....Cast in Stones!

This morning it was Rob's turn to get up first! (I love odd-numbered days). The early chores consist of opening up, opening the blinds, feeding the cats, making sure that Alfie actually goes outside and not pretends to, feeding the birds and feeding the fish and last but not least, making the coffee. We kind of do it on automatic pilot, but this morning Rob counted the fish and saw that there was one short! The orange one that he had named 'Outspan' like the oranges that are exported to far shores, was missing! And a flat rock that is usually on the edge of the pond was lying on the bottom.

Then he saw Outspan.

Lying on the stones about half a metre from the fish pond. Not moving. Not a good sign.

He picked it up and was about to bury it, when he saw it move very slightly, so he put it back in the water. It listed left-hand-down and kind of floated. By now I had joined him and the two of us stood and watched. I put my hand in the water and gently held it upright, but the minute I let go, it rolled over again.

Outspan looking a little sideways! (Pics thanks to Rob)

I did this a few times, I even thought of giving it mouth to mouth resuscitation as it kept either rolling over or bumping into things but we persevered and finally it looked as though we had won the battle! It started to swim the right way up, it's fins came unstuck and started moving, and it started to eat!

A lucky fish!

And now it is fine! What a tale to tell it's friends. I wonder if it's life flashed before it as it lay on the stones? I wonder if it saw a huge pond with all it's old friends waiting for it, beckoning with golden fins? Sort of 'On Golden Pond'. Sorry, that's awful!

And I wonder how it got there in the first place? Basil, you ask? No, he was with us on the bed, and he was dry!

A mystery that will probably remain unsolved.
Outspan. A good name for it as it turns out!