The Thirty-five Pound Goldfish

John bought a goldfish from Elmer's Pet Shop. He brought it home and filled a mixing bowl with water to put the fish in. He decided he needed a fish bowl and some food to help it grow. He asked his mom for some money to buy them. She said yes if he could find out where to buy them. The next day he went out to find the things for his fish. He found that Elmer's Pet Shop had the bowls but they were all out of fish food. He went to The Fish Store but they only had seafood.

"I will never find fish food, it's hopeless," he said.

That night at supper John asked his parents if they could take him to The Fish Feeder, a store downtown. They said that tomorrow he could go and to finish up his dinner. "But that will not be for a long time," he protested. "Well, we cannot go right now because the store would be closed by now, it's seven o'clock," his mom said. "That's not fair, can I go watch television?" John said. His parents said ok, so he went to watch tv. He saw a commercial for some special fish food you could order. He counted his money and had just enough. He bought two cans of fish food from the company and it came the next day. He gave his goldfish a whole can.

The day after the fish weighed five pounds. The next day it weighed ten pounds. John had to buy a bigger fish bowl. He decided to name his goldfish Gargantuan. He went to sleep and had a dream. When he woke up the next morning, Gargantuan weighed fifteen pounds.

"You are no ordinary fish," John told him and gave him some more food. For the next week Gargantuan grew and grew. He weighed about thirty-five pounds. John asked his mom if he could have a small swimming pool. "Why John?" she asked. He told her his fish had grown to thirty-five pounds, so he got a swimming pool. That night he was watching tv, and he saw a commercial for shrinking fish food. He bought it the next morning. He gave it to his goldfish and the next morning it was regular size again.

Creative Writing Contest

2001 winners