The Life and Death of Muno

I had very few goals this Spring Break, but one of them was to get Kellyanne a fish. And we did. On Thursday, Kellyanne, her big brother Michael, and and I went to PetSmart.  We looked at the birds and lizards and snakes.  Met some cute dogs and visited with the cats.  We also picked out a fish. A red Betta who she wanted to name Emma, but changed it to Muno when we told her it was a boy (that took some doing)! 
We bought the Betta food and took Muno home to his already waiting fish bowl.  It took Muno a couple of days to really come to life.  It was like he wanted to feel safe in his new surroundings and last night he was as active as I had ever seen him since we brought him home.  I thought it was in response to the large number of people who were in and out yesterday (Easter) and that he finally felt safe. This morning he was happily swimming around in his bowl just enjoying the day, totally unaware of his fate. 
Eilis went to hang out with her friend,  Michael, Erin and I went to the bank and we left Kellyanne playing MarioKart Wii while daddy worked in his office.  We were gone for less than an hour.  When we walked in the door I immediately saw the fishbowl on the kitchen table, moved from it's spot on the desk. Muno did not look happy.  When I looked in the bowl there were about 50 pellets of food floating on top of the water - and Muno was floating too, listing a little to the side - looking like he had just experienced some really good drugs.  No one is really sure what happened to Muno. Kellyanne showed me the food container and that's all I got out of her.  I told her I thought Muno was dead and she showed some remorse but simply moved on to her next task.
I keep telling myself, maybe he's just in a food coma, but I think I'm just kidding myself.  Muno made a wonderful pet in the Hagan home for 5 days. And yes, I'm getting another Muno and we will try again.  I will hide the food and try to use this as a learning opportunity for Kellyanne about taking responsibility for her pet, I think she'll get it.  I might tick off some animal rights activists (do they care about fish?), but I have to give her another chance. And I have to believe that Muno had 5 wonderful days in our home, which beats living in a cup in a pet store......I think.

Muno

March 28, 2013 - April 1, 2013

RIP