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Page Two of I've Heard Aquariums are Soothing

Mike and Jerry loaded the truck and I followed in the car feeling quite smug. I had an ace up my sleeve at the cash register: a 10% off coupon good for the entire purchase, including sales items!

The stand was packaged unassembled in a carton. The guys briefly glanced at the instructions and began putting the pieces together. (I assume those leftover screws on the coffee table were just extras, generously included by the factory.)

The stand was pushed onto the hearth, but it was so wide from front to back that the bow extended over the edge of the living room carpet. I retrieved a spare carpet scrap and Mike trimmed it to fit under the rear of the stand to level it. The tank was hoisted into place and … it barely fit under the mantelpiece. When the pump and light fixture were in place, it wouldn’t fit at all.

I shrugged my shoulders and began clearing off plants and knickknacks. The ‘demolition crew’ began prying the mantel off the wall once they determined which pieces needed to be removed in what order.

"Just keep thinking about how soothing it will be to sit on the sofa and watch fish swimming back and forth," I reminded my husband, who seemed to be losing sight of our goal. I heard a guttural grunt in reply.

The mantel finally came off, and so did a couple chunks of sheet-rock. The wall behind the mantel was sooty gray. I remembered smoke was one of the reasons we stopped using the fireplace.

"We were talking about painting the living room anyway," Mike commented flatly. He and Jerry did some measuring and replaced the mantel higher up the wall.

"I won’t need to dust the surface of the mantelpiece so often now. No one can see the top," I observed, struggling to keep up the team spirit.

Jerry went home after everything was moved into position. The gravel was carefully added to the tank and we called it a day. The rest of the setup would be a snap.

The following afternoon, Mike snaked the garden hose through the house and filled the tank half full with water. We hovered over that glass enclosure like a pair of new parents. Mike hung the filtration system in place and gave it a brief test. Next he plugged in the light fixture, which produced a bright spark at the socket. The light was totally fried, but could simply be returned for a new one.

Then I saw it: a tiny droplet of water clinging to the bottom corner of the aquarium. I ran my hand across the back edge and wordlessly showed my moist fingers to my husband. I mopped with a towel, but the water kept flowing. Mike began to siphon the water onto the patio while I continued to wipe at the persistent trickle. That’s when the phone rang.

"Hello?" I asked, stretching the phone cord to its limit so I could continue the task at hand.

"This is the store manager and of course I’ll honor the sales price on your purchase. That’s no problem at all," Larry’s pleasant, courteous voice informed me. What coincidental timing. I hated to ruin his day.

Manager Larry took it all in stride. The tank and light could be returned at Store #1, since it was less than two miles from home. However, the transaction to credit the difference in price had to happen at Store #2.

 

Page Three of I've Heard Aquariums are Soothing>>

©2007Roberta McReynolds for SeniorWomenWeb
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