Dead Fish

A catfish broke the surface of the pond yesterday. He swam on his side, up and down, in and out of the water like a sinking man bobbing for air from the depths. An apt description. The fish was drowning. Soon his lifeless body drifted ashore at my feet.

In the spectrum of greens, I’m a pastel. I’m not a big bold green like avid environmentalists are, but I’m attentive and cautious to a certain extent. I’m not willing to trade a car that’s paid for to buy an ecologically friendly vehicle that costs about a third of my house’s value, but I am willing to keep the clunker tuned so it uses less gas. I may not be the queen of recycling, but I don’t litter, and when in public, I tend to pick up other’s litter.

These days, everyone is some shade of green, from those who are willing to go to the extreme to those who just practice common sense. So you will understand my surprise when I looked on the pond and saw my fish dying. Not just the cat, but bass, some bream–different breeds of pan fish. What killed them?

Someone poured oil in our pond.

To my knowledge, we’ve never offended our neighbors. We keep to our own eleven acres and expect everyone else to do the same. We smile and wave through the windshield as we cross paths on the road; on rare occasion we visit. So I don’t believe this was vindictive. But I do think it was stupid. Whether it was carelessness or a negligent disregard for our property, I don’t know, but it was stupid. Senseless.

A winter storm blew into our area of Texas this morning on the wings of fifty mile per hour winds. Rain was falling when I awoke at four and is still showering fresh water into our pond. Maybe this will be enough to save the pond life. Maybe we won’t see anymore catfish in death throes. Maybe the God of nature will overthrow the stupidity of man just one more time.