He dipped the net in the tank. He could have been more gentle but he had about 100 fish to bag for the fair. He swooped up the closest one he could manage and picked up a sheer, plastic sack filled with one part water and 2 part air. He plopped the fish into the bag and began to tie it off. He prepared the bag for the next fish.

 As he dipped his net in for the second time a certain fish caught his eye. It was alone from the others and its mannerisms weren’t very fish-like. It didn’t look like a very strong swimmer to start off with and was a little darker than the other bright yellowish-orange goldfish. As the fishkeeper began to look closer, he noticed the fish had a little wiggle to his swim. His tailfin moved back and forth almost as if he was excited. He also didn’t act as skittish as the others. 

Usually the fishkeeper would make sure nothing was wrong with him, but nobody is perfect. And neither was the fishkeeper. He knew it was just going to go to some lousy fair and then probably to some lousy kid. He moved the net towards the fish. The fish didn’t try to swim away at all. Instead he wiggle-swam up to the net curiously and nuzzled it with his head. The fishkeeper had never had a fish act this way before. But he was wasting time. He scooped him up and plopped him in the sack, tied it off, and placed it on the cart with some of the others.

The bag shuffled and the goldfish jostled around in his sack as he was being hung up in the fair booth. The old man running the blue and yellow stand was much more gentle than the fishkeeper at the pet shop. He gently hung up each fish on a different hook from the ceiling of his booth and made sure they were very visible for the kids down below. Then little footsteps approached.

“Mr. Brooker, I want a fish.” The 4 year old little girl looked at the old man with big pleading eyes. 

“Well you’ve got to play if you want the prize. Here let me show you.” He picked up three yellow plastic rings. “Here, take these and see all those little ducks in the water there?”

“Yeah.” She responded

“You’re gonna just throw these like…” He grabbed her hand and put it around the yellow ring, then helped her give it a little toss at the ducks in the booth. The ring flew through the air and landed perfectly on one of the ducks necks. “See, now that's how you do it!” He exclaimed. “Wow first try, you’re a natural. Now which one do you want honey.” She looked at the ceiling and pondered for a moment. After a few moments the girl pointed at one of the fish above her. He gently took it off the hook and handed it to the little girl. She giggled and almost jumped with joy, but Mr Brooker reminded her to be gentle. 

“Where is Max?” the girl asked.

“Oh…” He stopped for a moment and thought. “He just couldn’t make it today.”

“Oh well, give him a treat for me when you see him!” She responded. As Mr Brooker watched her giddily gallop away with her new fish friend in hand, tears blurred his vision a bit. He hoped that the fish was going to be as good of a friend to the little girl as much as Max was to him.

The sky glowed as the sun began to set in the horizon. Mr Brooker began to clean up his stand from the long fair day. As he began to fold up his lawn chair that sat beneath all the fish when he heard a crumpling of a plastic bag. He glanced down and saw a slightly discolored fish in his bag on the grassy ground. He picked him up.

“Well what do we have here? Just a little guy left behind huh?” He puzzled for a moment on what exactly to do. He lifted up the bag above his head and took a closer look at the fish. Once the fish noticed the man his temperament completely changed. He began to wiggle and squirm. 

“It’s almost as if you're excited to see me.” Mr. Brooker kind of laughed to himself.

“Now what kind of fish acts like that?” He thought. He continued to watch the fish and his odd little swim. It almost reminded him of Max and his wiggle-butt he had every time Mr. Brooker would come home from work. His tail would wag in excitement as if Max hadn’t seen him for weeks. Now all there was when Mr. Brooker walked through the door was just an old, worn collar sitting on the counter. 

“Oh.. Max.” Mr. Booker said out loud to himself as more tears came to his eyes. Right when the words “Max” came out of his mouth the fish suddenly turned almost alarmed. Mr. Brooker repeated himself. 

“Max?” he questioned himself as he said it. Like this fish was going to do anything just because he said a name. But once again, the fish showed interest and wagged his fin. Mr. Brooker felt insane for a moment but he realized that this fish was just like his dog. The color, the way it acted, even the way it responded to his name. A sense of closure filled Mr. Brookers heart. He put the plastic, water filled sack in his pocket and began walking to his truck.