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The Crappie Fish that decided not to listen
Elisa Cortez
Marcelo Somarriba
The Crappie that decided not to listen.
The Crappie fish was always swimming with his shoal of Crappie fish buddies, one after the other, like soldiers. Always watching out for predators, working in unison, never letting their guard down, which was the reason as to why there was never any time for fun. As the Elder Crappie said, “We must never let our guard down, the predators are always lurking, stalking, preparing their attack. Never separate yourself from the shoal, being together is what keeps you alive”.
One day, while following the route his shoal always follows, Crappie fish started talking about how he didn’t feel comfortable doing what he was told to do. “Has anyone ever felt like they’ve always wanted to do more, but can’t, because Elder Crappie won’t allow it?” Crappie fish said, hoping to get some of the same responses in return, but surprisingly, every fish in his shoal told him to shut up and be quiet and keep in line, and they began to ignore him. This made Crappie fish upset and he slowly lets everyone pass him and makes his way into the back of the shoal, so that he does not have to talk to anybody. In the middle of their journey back home, Crappie fish see’s a group of Bloat fish, just talking and laughing, with almost no worries in life, and no elder Bloat fish to be seen anywhere near. Crappie starts to think to himself “Hmm, I wonder how that must feel like, having no responsibility to anyone, having to follow no rules, and just being able to hang out with your friends at any time, any place, any day”.
As he was thinking about it, something happened inside of him, not really sure of what happened to him, he separated himself from his shoal, and Elder’s rules were clear. “if one falls behind, no one goes and picks him back up, he’s on his own”. And so he was, on his own. With his new found spontaneous freedom, Crappie fish decides to approach the Bloat fish, and starts talking to them. Crappie fish was pretty good at making friends, so they invited Crappie to play “Inflated”, a game they invented. He accepts and is happy because he is no longer a soldier, but his own fish.
They started to play, and they all get inflated and start knocking each other around. Crappie sees how they are having fun and decides to play. He starts playing but one of the bloat fish accidentally hits him with his poisonous spikes and hurts Crappie. He realized that he might not make it because he has no one to take care of him. The last thought of Crappie fish, was “Maybe I should have listened to Elder Crappie and stayed in the shoal”.
The lesson: The young ones should always appreciate the counsel of the elder ones.
