1. Ashley Jarrell
Fish Bowl Story
FYS 100
The Day that Changed My Life
All my life I had always wondered what was beyond this world—my world in my little
fish bowl. I had dreamed of one day escaping, setting off into something bigger than my simple,
glass home. I told of my dreams to my family members, however; most of them were never
really interested and thought my ideas were silly. All in all, I still kept faith and hoped for the
courage that I needed to one day achieve my ultimate dreams. It just so happened that that
moment came on a calm autumn day in the middle of the afternoon. I didn’t see it coming, but
September 17th would be the day that changed everything.
I was swimming through my typical morning routine that day; made my laps around the
bowl and ate a few specks of food dropped in from above. Suddenly, I saw something familiar
coming my way that my owner was carrying, Melinda. She placed beside me what looked just
like my own home, yet another fish bowl! The funny part was it looked identical to mine, but the
difference was there was a whole family in this newfound world. They all swam around playing
with one another looking so happy to just simply be in these stupid glass dwellings. I came to the
realization that I needed to be like them; I needed to escape this place. Even though I use to be
able to talk to my family of my aspirations, they had all passed and now I had nobody. I decided
to formulate a plan that would allow me to achieve my everlasting goal—setting off into the real
world. At nightfall when Melinda had told all of us goodnight and gone to bed in her Princess
teepee, I took action. Yes, tonight would be the night that I, Ralph the two inch gold fish, would
start a new life for myself.
2. I had repeatedly rammed my body against the inside of my bowl to allow the object to set
right beside the new home beside me. My plan was to jump up hit the top of the next bowl and
out the window adjacent to the table we were all placed on. So I did, luckily my jump was
successful and before I knew it I was out! As I lay on the soft green object I had landed on, I
began to feel my body start to flop around. I could feel my gills starting to shrivel up and my
airway close off. I had never experienced anything like this before and didn’t know what was
happening to me. Before I knew it a giant pelican swept down from above and grabbed me in his
mouth. He flew me to a nearby body of water, I wasn’t sure what it was but it was much bigger
than my old fish bowl. The giant white object dropped me into the water and I began to feel my
airway opening back up. When I felt completely normal I looked over to see that my saving
grace was floating in the water beside me. “My name is Bill, I’m a pelican of the sea”, he said. I
was stunned I had never known that other animals could talk besides me! “Hello, my name is
Ralph and I’m just a gold fish searching for a new life”, I said. That night we talked for hours as
the sun came up and began to go back down again we continued to converse.
From that faithful autumn day on, I made a life-long friend. I began a new life with him
and he always protected me every step of the way. Later on he introduced me to another fish he
had saved in the same situation I had experienced. Her name was Sally and after years of prying
for her attention, she became my wife. Together we had dozens of beautiful children and Bill
always looked after them as if he was their grandfather. All in all, even though I never expected
anything so magnificent, I never forgot about the day that changed my life—September 17th.
