The Bettas And Me

It all started very innocently. I was trying to waste a few extra minutes, so I went into the local pet store, and I was just intrigued by the Betta fish. I saw one, a blue one, I just couldn't get my eyes off of. So, I checked my wallet to make sure I had some money, and I left the pet store with that blue Betta and a Betta kit - a complete home for my new pet fish.

Well, it all -started- innocently enough, but within a month, I was the proud owner of six Betta fish, and six Betta abodes of varying sizes and colors. There was Jude, he was the first Betta, then Diva, Betta number two, next was Rocky Balboa, then came Gabriel, C.S., another female, and, last, but not least, was Napolean. Two females, four males.

Now, six Bettas might not seem like a world of fish, but I live in a tiny apartment of two small rooms, about what a kid in a college dorm would reside in. So, six fish tanks interspersed among not just all the typical books, clothes, dvds, and other items a twenty-something girl would have - but also the  Care Bear Temple - yes, a shrine of over 140 stuffed Care Bears and many other Care Bear memerobilia I have.

So, there I am, living in this tiny apartment, amongst too many Bettas, too many Care Bears, all the typical fittings of a twenty-something girl, and trying to make a life for myself. The problem is, I find myself wondering, is there a Betta fish Annonymous? SIx is not enough! Even in this hole in the wall apartment I have for myself. I mean, will I have to get rid of the Care Bears I worked so hard to amass? Will my apartment turn into Pittsburgh's new Aquarium?

Six Bettas in less than six weeks! After each acquisition, everyone hears the same thing, "This is my last one, I swear!" And after each one, the very next time I am unleashed to the pet store, I come back with what, but another Betta! So, when, I ask, when will it end? Will the Bettas outrun me? Will my foodbill be primarily Betta pellets and bloodworms? Will my part-time job turn into cleaning fish tanks? When will it ever end?

Or will I have told the truth for once, and will "I swear, six is the last of my Betta buying," in fact be the truth?