Kimi sat there on that wooden chair, glowing richly of walnut and furniture polish. Her tiny ears were perked forward in full attention, and a delightful smile wrapped itself from cheek to cheek. In this large fish rank we have a bright assortment of colorful rocks, castles, shells, and plants. But only three fish. Three large fish. One is blue in color, with yellow spots on his fins, one has orange and black stripes, like a tiger almost, and the other one is a dark blackish gray color with shiny spots of yellow, silver and blue to him. Being fish of a very aggressive nature, they zip to and fro chasing each other wildly about the tank.

Kimi watched intently as they swam by, her tiny head following their every movement. Quietly she waited as they swam to a far off corner. She shifted on her front feet and the hairs around her ears quivered in excitement as she waited for their return. Suddenly the smaller tiger fish darted over to the larger blue one and the chase was on! They swam under a rock, around a ceramic cactus and scrambled right past Kimi's nose. As they did, she jumped forward and.... THUNK ....she hit her nose to the glass! Not slowing down she yipped loudly at them and slapped a delicate white paw to the glass.

Undaunted, the shiny spotted black fish joined in the chase, and neatly split up the chase between the other two. With one fish swimming off to the left, and one swimming off to the right, Kimi's' eyes tried to go opposite directions! To command her eyes back to full frontal position, she threw back her head and said "YIP!", as she danced on her front feet. The blackish fish swam right up to the glass in front of her, poking his little fishy nose against the glass. Kimi leaned forward and pressed her little Sheltie nose against the glass, and there to two stood. In a fish off! Uuhh...face off. She stood to all fours and tried her best to look intimidating. The fish never gave an inch, and there he hovered, tail swooshing back and forth. Kimi, never being one to be out done, swooshed her own tail back and forth.

The fish stared at her with his little glassy eyes, and Kimi stared back, unblinkingly. I sat there waiting for one of them to draw first! The fish opened his mouth in a wordless bubble of insults, Kimi opened her own and a torrent of Yips poured forth. "YIP!...ggrrrrrr....YIP!" She said to the fish. This black fish of terror backed up (yes fish CAN swim backwards.....), lowered his head and charged! Straight at Kimi! Steadfast and brave, Kimi rose to her back feet, slapped both front feet to the glass and dug madly at the glass while growling at the fish. It came to a stop, banked left and quickly swam off under a rock.

I chuckled to myself as Kimi sat back on her haunches, her tiny tongue draped from the left corner of her mouth in smiling joy. She won that round! While the three fish swan and circled each other, no doubt plotting their next attack on this toothy monster staring at them, Kimi sat and watched. And waited. Once she threw a quick glance over her shoulder at me and with a "RRRYIP!" that clearly said "This is better than TV," she resumed watching the action.

The blue fish, ever curious and infinitely more gentle natured then the black fish, he came up to the glass. His top fins stayed down in a non-aggressive manner, and his lips touched the glass close to Kimi's face. Without ever standing, Kimi edged closer to the glass on her side of the tank. Leaning in, her nose touched against the cold glass. Unable to resist a taste, her little pink tongue snaked out between her lips and left a snail trail across the glass. Drawing her head back in confusion, she cocked it once to the right. I could see the questions dancing in her mind..."Why is there no taste? Why didn't it feel wet like water? How come these fish don't smell bad like the ones from the river?" She leaned forward for another taste, but still came up feeling empty.

The blue fish took advantage of her confusion and moved in to nip at the glass between his lips (and yes that question has been answered. Fish DO indeed have lips, just ask Kimi's daddy who once jerked his line out of the water to find all he had hanging there was a set of fish lips) and her feet. Though the glass was between her feet and imminent danger, Kimi took no such chances, and with each nip the fish took, she danced that paw away from him. Growing frustrated at his attempts to nip off her nails, Kimi threw herself wholeheartedly into a barking growling, snapping attack back at the fish. "GGGRRRRRRRRR YIP..rrrrrrrrrr..........rrrrooofff! YIP YIP YIPPY!" she shouted at the fish. As I sat there laughing I couldn't help but wonder if sound is muffled to fish as it is to us when under water.

Well, her frontal attack once again proved her victorious for all three fish made a mad scramble for the safety of castle, rock and weed. The black fish, being the largest of the three, has taken over command within the castle walls. The problem is, is that he is to big for the castle and has to hover over it, then slowly lower himself into it...tail first. Which left his nose floating close to the top. Kimi watched as he lowered himself into the castle, and once he sank just beyond her sight, she stood. Craning her head to gain a sideways view of the castle, Kimi tried in vain to peek beyond his fortress walls to find him. Finding her attempts futile, she pulled back, only to look around the corner of the tank. Where is gave her a different perspective on the whole thing, she still couldn't find her foe. She sat back down in the chair to think things through.

While she sat there, the tiger fish dared to stick his nose where it did not belong. Right back into HER business! He swam have a length from under the rock ledge where he had been hiding. Kim stood to all fours again. The tiger fish ventured out a bit more. Kimi leaned in a tad closer to the tank. The fish stepped up to meet her challenge. Kimi placed her nose against the glass. The tiger fish angrily waved his tail back and forth. Kimi drew back her head, her delicate necked raised into an arch and did the same with her tail. From left to right, right to left, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh went her bushy tail. Mocking his every move, she waited. The tiger fish suddenly lunged forward, heading right straight for the glass! Kimi and her nose followed suit, heading right straight for HER side of the glass! The fish swooped left, Kimi....KURTHUNK!...didn't!

How a nose so tiny can make a sound so loud when it hits something of a solid nature is a question to be answered at another time. As the fish swam off to do his own thing, laughing under his bubbly breath I am sure, Kimi sat back and sneezed away the throbbing impact. FFFFTHHHTTT!!! FFTTHHHTTTT!! She sneezed. Raising her pointy little nose upward, the corners of her mouth drawing back to almost a silly grin, you could see one more sneeze building. Suddenly her head dropped, her ears shook, and her head twisted from side to side in the force of her last sneeze FFFFTTTTHHHTTT!!!

Once she had that out of her system, she turned to look at me with a grin ever so wide. I laughed and with a little upward nod of her head I swear she did too. I said "Bless YOU, Kimi!" and she waved one front paw my direction.

Hearing a slight odd noise coming from the fish tank, she whipped her head back to peer into the bright waters to see what her new but odd friends were doing now. Spotting the tiger fish lazily floating under the rock where the slimy creature belonged, her gaze moved on. Nothing exciting there. Kimi stood to peer down into the castle, and the black fish slowly rose to peek back at her over the castle walls. Nothing exciting there.......

Hearing the sound coming from the other end of the tank, Kimi reversed her position on the chair and faced east instead of west. The sound, sort of a muffled "clank clank" was coming from down there! And there it was! The big blue fish with the yellow spots on his tail. Kimi watched in curious wonder as the fish swam into this colorful cave of rocks, only to back out and turn around. Her eyes widened in sudden delighted shock as the fish swam over in front of her, went PETEEWWWY! and spit out a rock!

Kimi jumped to her feet, and looked down toward the rock this fish had just spit out. She whirled her head back to look at me over her left shoulder, and with a totally disgusted look said "YIP!" (which I took to mean GROSS!) Her head snapped back toward the tank again as she heard the sound of rattling rocks. Intently she watched as he backed out of his cave, swam toward her and once again went PETEEWWY! Yep, sure enough, out came a rock, right in front of her face! Kimi slapped a paw against the glass and issued a sharp "YIP!" to this fish. Not at all frightened by her demands, he went about his business and soon had another rock to spit out at her. Now, knowing these fish as I do, I know this is normal behavior for him. He was simply doing a bit of cave cleaning, moving rock out of his way to make his bed a bit softer. Kimi however, does not *know* fish and was at first insulted and disgusted by his behavior. After a while though, her curiosity for all of life won her over and her smile soon widened as she waited for him to spit more rocks out about the tank. Each time he managed to spit a rock a good distance, Kimi jumped to slap a paw against the tank in what could only be described as a *High Five* for distance.

As with all good things, even fun, it has to come to an end sooner or later. Before Kimi was ready the fish he finished and settled down in his cave for a long fishy nap. Kimi heaved a sigh of disappointment and jumped down. Once she hit the floor, the cat, who had been enjoying his own nap, raised his eyes, blinked sleepily twice, then opened his mouth into a wide yawn as he stretched out. Kimi took this as a full invitation to play and with three puppy jumps, pounced the poor unsuspecting tubby gray tabby right in his bread basket (mid section). That was all it took and Kimi once again had a game of chase the kitty in full progress.

I sat there laughing at their antics wondering how long it would be before Kimi tried to spit like the fish. Knowing her devious quick mind I'm sure it won't be long.

Once again I have learned an important lesson from one tiny bundle of love. The next time I feel bored I will remember this moment of time and realize that our Creator gave us the gift of an imagination. Look around you and put it too good use!

walk in beauty
Kristi & Kimi