Joytime Killbox by Brian W. Wood

Author:Brian W. Wood [Wood, Brian W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781942683919
Goodreads: 48202080
Publisher: BOA Editions LTD
Published: 2019-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Hiram, the Fisher

Hiram hated animals. His whole life he’d had one pet. And even that was short-lived. When he was a child, his neighbor’s cat had a tremendous litter. They couldn’t give them away. Hiram asked his father for a kitten.

“Dirty filthy things,” his father had said. “I’m pulling doubles to put a roof over your head. Your mother breaks her back in there, keeping it clean. And you want to invite animals into our house?” His father’s mind was set.

That same week, at the county fair, Hiram was drawn to a carnival game. A kiddie pool was filled with water and seeded with a school of live goldfish. For three tickets he could reach into the pool and keep anything he grabbed. Packs of children gathered around the pool, plunging their fists, savagely punching at the water. Hiram paid the attendant and took his place at the edge of the pool. He licked his lips and rolled up his sleeve. He knelt and peered into the sloshing water. Golden fish scales glittered on the waves. He watched the fish, studied their behavior. They huddled into orange clouds; they scattered and regrouped. Hiram held his hand above the water, waiting like a hunter, holding the air in his lungs. As a milk-skinned boy splashed the opposite side of the pool, sending the fish in a feverish escape, Hiram knifed his hand in the water. He pulled his fist from the pool. He opened his hand to find two fish skittering in his palm. Two! He cupped the fish gently, like he was nesting a baby bird. He presented his catch to the carnival worker who tossed the fish in a plastic bread bag. The man filled the bag with water from the pool and knotted the top. He held the bag out for Hiram. “Winner, winner,” he said. “Fish for dinner.”

Hiram kept the fish under his coat when he got home. He took his mother’s glass Jell-O mold and layered the bottom with pebbles from the garden. He poured cool water into the bowl. Up in his room, he slowly shook the fish into their new home. He set the fishbowl on the carpet. Hiram lay on his belly and rested his head in his palms. His eyes watched the fish mouth at the water. He watched them swim to the bottom and nibble at the pebbles.

“I’ll call you Batman,” he told the bigger of the two. He pressed his finger against the bowl. “And you can be Robin, since you’re smaller.” Late into the night he watched Batman and Robin flap and dart. He watched them kiss the water’s surface. He’d never seen anything so beautiful. He could hardly believe they were his.

On his way home from school, Hiram used his allowance to buy fish flakes. He held the tube of fish food in his hand like a sprinter’s baton. He ran the length of sidewalk to his house. He was eager to feed the duo. As soon as he passed the threshold of his home, his father called him into the bathroom.

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