fish food

i never had pets as a kid.
i was that weird kid in your class who, when it came time to talk about your pets, didn't have any.

i loved coloring when i was a kid. colored pencils were my favorite.
you know those little shavings that curl off of a colored pencil when you sharpen it by hand?
i used to pretend those were fish food.
and i would sprinkle them in my garbage can, which was my pseudo-fishbowl.
my parents probably liked that because imaginary pets can only make imaginary messes.

i sharpened a colored pencil by hand today and that all came back to me.
i sprinkled the shavings into my garbage can for my imaginary fish to eat.
they were happy. they hadn't eaten in a while.