At the
pet store
he spied
a beautiful
fancy goldfish
staring at him,
like it was
beckoning him
to buy it.

Even though he
already had
two fancies,

he bought the
compelling,
fancy goldfish
and placed it
into his
40 gallon tank
with his two
fancy goldfish.

The next
morning one of
his two fancies
was dead,

which seemed
premature
to him, but
he shrugged
it off, thinking
sometimes
fish and
people die
unexpectedly.

A day later,
the other
fancy died.

He checked the
water in the tank;

it was okay.

He checked to
see if any
fish diseases
were in the tank.

None.

That night he
saw the new
fancy goldfish
in a nightmare(?)
sitting on his
chest,

(it’s eyes
demonic red),

psychically
sucking
his life force
out of him

until he
gasped,
trembled
and died,
a horrified
look frozen
on his
pale face.

Its infamy
finished,
the new
fancy goldfish
swam back to
its terrifying
astral abode,

a godforsaken,
fiery hell.

Bob Boyd