Lightning in the Glass

The goldfish circled its bowl again, orange scales catching the afternoon light. Three years of watching this creature's endless loop, and I still couldn't decide if it was peaceful or maddening.

Sarah had brought it over the day she told me about the pyramid scheme—her latest 'investment opportunity.' Her hair was different then, chopped short in that desperate way people do when they're trying to reinvent themselves mid-life. We'd been friends since college, but somewhere along the way, she'd stopped calling to catch up and started calling to sell.

'It's not a pyramid,' she'd said, spreading out those glossy charts. 'It's about financial freedom. About finally having choices.'

I'd told her I needed time to think. She never came back for the fish.

That was two years ago. Last I heard, she'd moved to Denver, was selling essential oils now, something about wellness and corporate greed. The goldfish remained—my involuntary pet, a living artifact of a friendship that had dissolved somewhere between her second divorce and her third multi-level marketing venture.

Tonight, the storm outside my window matches the one in my chest. Lightning fractures the sky, illuminating the empty apartment where Sarah used to crash on my couch after bad dates. We'd drink cheap wine and talk about how we'd never become our mothers, never settle for lives that felt like borrowed time.

The fish swims on, oblivious to the weight of memory. Maybe it knows something I don't.

I pick up my phone. Sarah's number is still there, under 'F' for friend, though I haven't used it in eighteen months. The last text between us is her invitation to a 'wealth empowerment webinar.' I'd never replied.

Another flash of lightning. The glass bowl ripples.

I send a message: 'Remember that goldfish you forgot? Still alive. Still swimming in circles.'

Three dots appear, then disappear. Then again.

'I'm sorry,' comes the reply. 'I'm so sorry.'

The fish surfaces, blows a tiny bubble. Outside, thunder rolls through the valley like the earth itself is sighing.