by Mike O’Brien
It seemed like a good idea at the time,
mixing fish food in with seeds, suet, and lard
to make fat balls to hang around the garden.
Our feathered friends seemed to thrive on them.
So we kept on making more.
After a few months
we began to notice subtle changes in the form
of many of the birds we saw visiting our patch.
The occasional dorsal fin.
The swishing tail feathers.
The constant rhythmic opening and closing of the beak.
They all seemed happy enough.
We enjoyed watching schools of them swim through the air
or hide amongst the reeds and tall grasses.
That was when we had the bright idea
of adding seeds, suet, and lard to the fish food
that we sprinkled into the top of the aquarium.
We did this for almost a week,
making careful notes
and looking out for subtle changes
in behaviour and appearance.
Unfortunately,
we awoke on the morning of the sixth day
to find every single fish in the tank
floating belly up and lifeless
on the greasy surface of the water.