After the incident with Harley and Giovanni, Sushi went looking for Giovanni. Sushi poked his head into each of the holes in the driftwood. When Sushi found Giovanni, he began to approach him. When Sushi did Giovanni backed up and became jumpy.
“What do you want!?” said an angry Giovanni. His voice was deep and he looked at Sushi with a fuming glare.
“Hey, I’m sorry about what happened with Harley. I’m not sure what’s going on with him. My name is Sushi.”
Giovanni was hesitant to respond, “I’m Giovanni. You can call me Big G if you want.”
Sushi put a smile on his face, “Well, welcome to the tank, Big G. It looks like you came in on the tail end of the breakin’ in period. Things were getting pretty bad before you got here. We lost a fish. Her name was Bubbles just like the fish you came in with. I actually thought the Bubbles you came in with was our Bubbles coming back. I guess I was wrong.”
“You mean to tell me there was another Bubbles that lived here with you?” Giovanni sounded baffled.
“Yeah, I was pretty confused at first.”
Giovanni thought for a moment, “Maybe all balloon mollies are named Bubbles.”
“Maybe,” Sushi replied.
“So what happened to Bubbles?”
“The water got real cloudy and we were swimming in food waste and poop. Our eyes burned, Bubbles and I got really sick. She obviously didn’t make it. Once the big head changed some of the water, things got a lot better.”
“Sorry to hear about your loss,” Giovanni said sincerely.
“Thanks,” replied Sushi.
Giovanni wanted to know more about Harley, “So has Harley always been a jerk?”
“Harley has always been a little rough around the edges. Things got a lot worse when Bubbles died.”
“Did he have a thing for her? I mean, did he like her?” Giovanni inquired.
“No. Harley desperately wanted to break out of here and I was going to go with him. We both didn’t want to have to go through the breakin’ in of the tank. When Bubbles died, Harley tried as hard as he could to jump out of the tank. He didn’t even come close. He’s been in a bad mood ever since.”
Giovanni had some insight, “Sounds to me like he had his heart set on getting out of here, now that he realizes he can’t, he’s going to take it out on everyone else.”
Sushi’s eyes lit up, “You know Giovanni, I think you’re right. I’ll be back,” and he darted off to find Harley.
Harley was picking off the last of the food that was left behind from this morning’s breakfast. Sushi approached slowly and spoke softly.
“Hey Harley,” Sushi said calmly.
Harley snapped his head around, “Don’t you listen. I told you to back off!”
Sushi needed Harley to listen and wasn’t backing down, “Listen, Harley. I know you’re mad that we didn’t make it out of here but the tank is broken in now. We’re going to be fine.”
Harley refused to hear a word Sushi said, “Mind your own business, buddy!” He pushed through Sushi and began to swim off.
Sushi yelled at him, “Why can’t you just talk to me. I don’t want everyone to live in misery here. I want everybody to get along.”
Harley turned to look at Sushi, “You’d better find yourself a new tank then,” and swam off.
Tensions were obviously high in the fish tank. Giovanni remained hidden away inside the driftwood. Every time he came out Harley would jab at him and Giovanni would swim back to the driftwood. This made living in the tank especially difficult for Giovanni because he was unable to eat without being bullied. In fact, during feeding time Harley would jab at Sushi too. Bubbles became nervous about all the jabbing and thought she might be next so she steered clear of Harley.
One morning, just like any other, the big head opened the hood and dropped in some food. Harley darted to the top to get his unfair share of food. He gobbled up almost everything in sight. Sushi and Giovanni were waiting a moment so Harley wouldn’t be too defensive when they went up for food. Bubbles didn’t hesitate. She stayed far away from Harley and he didn’t bother her. While eating though, she drifted into the outgoing flow of the filter. The stream of water moved her toward Harley and she actually bumped into him. Harley became furious and rammed her not once but twice. Bubbles scurried away as fast as she could.
Giovanni and Sushi both saw what happened and the both simultaneously darted at Harley who went back to eating. Giovanni and Sushi both reached Harley at the same time and rammed him at full speed. They both clobbered him from opposite directions and that made him spin around. He was stunned. He didn’t even realize what had happened until he saw Giovanni and Sushi glaring at him. Harley instantly became nervous so he darted off into the driftwood. Harley had finally crossed the line.
Giovanni and Sushi both looked at each other. Giovanni spoke first, “I’ll go check on Bubbles.”
“I’ll stand guard by the food,” Sushi said.
Giovanni found Bubbles in the corner by the heater. She was shaking. Giovanni approached her softly.
“You okay, Bubbles.” She just nodded her head. “Don’t worry Bubbles, we took care of him.” She nodded her head again. “Come on lets get you some food.” She backed up even further into the corner, refusing to go. “It’s okay, Bubbles, Sushi is on guard. Harley’s not going to hurt you anymore. Harley’s not going to hurt any of us anymore. We’re going to make sure of it.”
Bubbles gathered up her courage and followed Giovanni up to the top where Sushi was. Sushi and Giovanni watched the tank while Bubbles ate. Once she was finished they alternated. One ate while the other kept watch. Giovanni and Sushi made a pact; Harley wouldn’t be controlling this tank any longer. It was about time that someone broke Harley of his attitude.
Will Harley change his ways? Can there be peace in the fish tank? Find out next week when the fish tail continues.
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