One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish

I feel it's my duty to explain The Fish

     Emily had fish when she lived at home.  She loves pets.
     When we moved into our Skare Court house in about 1992, she had some rather large tinfoil barbs.
     They were in a tank in the family room.  We were in bed one night when I heard this slapping sound.  It went on for several minutes, so I went downstairs to investigate.
     I found one of the tinfoil barbs on the floor, flapping like crazy.  I scooped it up and plopped it back in the tank, where it proceeded to swim sideways for the rest of its life.
     At some point....I don't remember when.....one of the two barbs died.  It must have been 8 inches long.
     Flushing it was not an option.
     And because it was a pet, throwing it in the garbage was not an option.
     It was winter, so I put the fish in a bag and froze it.
     The plan was to put it in the ground under a bush that Emily was planting, the fish serving as nourishment for the plant, with the plant in turn serving as a memorial to the fish.
     At some point, Exit 99 people were over at my house and we were telling about goofy things we save or something, and I mentioned the fish I had  in the freezer.
     Everyone laughed and said I was crazy.  So I showed it to them.
     Now, some people get disgusted by stiff, frozen fish.  But Mrs. Paul loves them, and I saw no harm because we were going to bury it.
     When the second fish died, it was also winter.  So I put it in a bag and put it in the freezer.
     After all, Emily was planning on moving to Rochelle and building a house, so there would be lots of bushes to plant.
     In the mean time, word of the fish seemed to spread and whenever people talked about saving things, Dickow's fish came up.
     Now I had two of them.
     But Emily was moving to Rochelle and building a house, so there would be lots of bushes to plant.
(repeated to emphasize.)
     Emily has been in the house a few years, maybe 8 or 9.  She has planted a lot of bushes.
     When we moved from Skare Court, we put the fish in her freezer because we were going to plant trees and bushes at the new house.
     I was a little astounded when I picked through the debris at Emily's house and found so little.
    Then Em mentioned:  The Fish were still in the freezer.
     And by golly, they were!
     These old boys have survived three moves, over a decade of frozen life, and a tornado.
     The Fish had provided lots of laughs (at my expense) and created some great memories and stories for friends.
     They were great pets.....as long as the power wasn't off and your freezer wasn't
laying on its side in the yard next to your house after being ripped from its home in the basement.
      Emily will rebuild.  And next fall, she may even plant new bushes.
     Alas, the fish will not be there.
     They are now returned to Mother Earth and hopefully will provide nourishment for our tomatoes and green peppers this year.  A proper burial, complete with music, was held.  (Ok, I whistled a little of Edmund Fitzgerald....only fishing related song I know and it's not about fishing.)
     Now, about the shavings collection........

Fish Number two was in the bag, but not in a baggy!