Here comes one more homework. I’ve already posted it on a forbidden social media, but let it be here as well (to have a complete collection:)
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Splash. Splash. Splash-splash-splash.

“What on Earth?...” I thought, having just got home from school. Rhythmic splashing sounds coming from your bathroom are not something you expect to hear when you enter your apartment. Tiptoeing to the door, I opened it and… Here they were – two glistening carps, swimming merrily in our bath tub.

“Mooooom! Why are there two fishes in our bath?!”

Turned out that mom bought them on her way home to cook them for dinner. Poor things were thrashing so violently, grasping for life, that she found nothing better to do but put them in the water-filled bath, so that dad would come and butcher them later.

There was one minor drawback in this otherwise splendid plan: my dad had the strongest natural aversion to killing all living creatures, big and small. Especially fish. “I am Pisces! Do you really expect me to kill my relatives in cold blood (pun intended)?!”. Mom couldn’t kill the fish. Dad wouldn’t kill the fish. I already named the fish (Vasya and Raphael), so beheading them would be borderline sadistic.

It doesn’t really matter whose idea it was to put the carps in a bucket of water, cover it with a lid, get in the car, buy a watermelon (why not combine a rescue mission with a festive picnic?), and drive for 70-ish kilometres from our Alma-Ata flat to lake Kapchagay to let them out in the wild.

It was a glorious evening: the scorching summer heat finally gave way to the gentle, if a little wistful, September tranquillity. The impossibly red disc of a setting sun echoed our watermelon divided in half. Having dragged the heavy bucket to the water, solemnly yet triumphantly, we set our could-have-been-dinner free.

I travelled extensively and could have written a story about our trip to Mexico, or about our vacations in Hong Kong and Singapore, or about one of our road-trips around the US National Parks. But I opted for this little story to make a simple yet powerful point: adventures await everywhere! Carpe diem!

#WritingForReal_5