Of Goldfishes and Dogs

**What you read below is the whimsical result of one of those weird writing prompts. I never could have imagined such on my own.

Long, long ago when the world was created, every living being was molded with a distinct purpose within a specific order. The birds of the air were given wings to navigate the wide open spaces of their habitat. The hawk was given beady eyes with superhero vision to spot a field mouse from hundreds of feet in the air. Giraffes were given long necks, so that they could eat of the leaves from the tallest trees and see the fast cheetah as it approaches. The philosophical among us may venture to ask,"Why do dogs have four legs and goldfish no legs at all?" The answer is necessity.

Why should a goldfish be created with one leg, much less four, when his habitat requires fins and gills for underwater living? Why would the Creator create this tiny aquatic beauty with the equipment to walk if it never had occasion to do so? It is pure madness, I tell you, to imagine a goldfish on land legs.

Likewise, the dog, with its propensity for roaming and rolling in the grass and chasing after Brer Rabbit--what does he need with fins or gills? Perhaps he takes a notion for an afternoon swim now and again on a hot summer day, but ninety percent of his life is lived on land. He needs four legs--two for digging and two for hiking against a hydrant alternately,depending on which side of the street the hydrant is on. It is simple. A golfish has no need to hike its legs or dig. It needs merely to dive and bob and swish its fine tail, unless of course you overfeed it. And then it has no need of legs, nor fins, nor even gills. It breathes no more, sad to say.

When my son was three he won a goldfish at the county fair for tossing a ring onto a milk bottle. We took it home in a Ziplock bag,bought it a goldfish bowl and food, and named it "Roadrunner." Now, I cannot begin to understand why a three-year-old would name a goldfish "Roadrunner," except for the fact that Bugs Bunny and Road Runner were his favorite cartoons at the time. Nevertheless, Roadrunner became part of our family--even though Roadrunner had no legs with which to run the roads. Oh he was fast in the water, circling that bowl on cue whenever my toddler pecked the glass. He was sweet and adorable, even without four legs...for about the space of four days, when sadly, Roadrunner was found belly up. Oh how my son cried. I asked, "How much did you feed him, son? And how many times?" "Just once," he replied. And then a long silence, "Just once," my husband replied. And then with a long sigh, "Me too. Just once." And so, tragically, died Roadrunner. Overfed, overloved, and buried in the backyard with a stone to mark his place. A pet more beloved, or at least as beloved, as any four-legged creature could ever be.

So I ask you? Does a goldfish need four legs? Certainly any common pup requires them, but I have seen a few three-legged dogs in my day. I'm certain they do not alternately hike at the hydrant. But does a goldfish really need four legs? Roadrunner did not. But then again, if he had had legs, maybe he could have out run us all and lived to tell the tale--that is, if he had been given a voice as well. But that is a philosophical wonder for another day.