"Cleo collects salt water fish, not freshwater."
Emma flung the words like Rikki was the biggest fool in the universe… and Rikki felt like the biggest fool for sure. She wasn't doing anything right today. First she'd not shown the proper emotion following the death of Pluto, a beloved fish member of Cleo's bedroom community. Rikki really wasn't that selfish, she'd never seen someone so broken about a fish before… at least not anyone over the age of six years old. In her desire to make things right and do her part in cheering up Cleo, Rikki had rushed to the local pet shop for a new fishy friend. The fancy tropical fish like the ones Cleo had already were way over her price range, but the shop owner assured her that the bright orange goldfish was just as able to listen to a naïve young human talking to it as the larger and more colorful fish… and just as unlikely to talk to back to her, the shopkeeper had thrown in with an amused grin.
But, she'd messed it up again; saltwater, fresh water… why couldn't fish just be happy to have any water at all! Now what was she going to do? She couldn't take the fish back, "Oh, sorry sir, my friend only collects saltwater fish and I'm just too dumb to tell the difference." Nope, not happening, no there was only one thing to do: keep the dang fish herself. What did fish need? Cleo's were in special tanks with filters and gallons and gallons of water with colorful corals and plants and rocks. Rikki had no idea what big box made of glass cost, but she had a pretty good idea it was more than she had to spend. She wandered sadly back to the pet shop, staring at the fish in the baggie in her hand and cursing her ineptitude with people.
Happily it must have been shift change while she was proving to Cleo and Emma how little she knew about friendship, and the previous shop clerk was gone. A middle aged hippie-type woman helped her select a simple goldfish bowl, some colored stones, a larger rock, a small plant, and some food. With a large carrier bag in one hand and still clutching the goldfish baggie in the other Rikki trudged back to the trailer she lived in with her dad. They always had bottled water around, thank goodness, the tap water in the trailer park wasn't decent for drinking and probably wasn't good enough for a fish either. Like the woman had told her she set up the fish bowl and then floated the fish still in the baggie on the top, letting it acclimate to the different temperature water.
Upon waking the next morning, Rikki carefully transferred the fish to its new home in the fish bowl on her desk. She fed it and watched it swim around the rock and plant she'd selected.
"There you go, Pluto II… not the home I had in mind for you, but it'll have to do because I'm the biggest jerk on the planet."
Oh. My. Gosh. I just talked to a fish, she thought, I've just taken a scary step in becoming more like Cleo! She supposed it wasn't so bad, being a little more like Cleo, Cleo would never bring someone a goldfish for their tropical fish tank. Cleo would be more sympathetic toward someone experiencing the loss of a pet… Cleo would probably remember that pet's name only five minutes after hearing it. Maybe, it'd be a good thing for Rikki to have someone, well, something, to talk to that couldn't talk back… she'd be less likely to get offended and start a fight at least. Yes, this was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.