An All-Consuming Hobby

An All-Consuming Hobby0:00/467.359024943310661×I told Eddie no more tanks. “They’re a money pit and we have enough,” I said. Truth was, the creatures within creeped me out, flitting around with gaping maws, darting through plants strung with mossy-looking algae.“You suggested I get a hobby, so…” Eddie said, gesturing at the shelf-lined wall stacked with seven ten-gallon tanks. “And really, you should observe them more. The symbiosis… it’s all so interesting.” He bent over a box on our bed, sliding the latest purchase out with a suctioning woosh. I leaned against the doorjamb and crossed my arms over my chest, eyes darting from the empty tank to the wall where plants danced in the filter’s flow, hypnotic.That night, while Eddie snored next to me, I stared at the tanks. The lights were off but shadows shifted in the dark and I laid there⁠—frozen⁠—knowing I was the observed, not the other way around. If I flipped the light on, I’d catch them: the tetras, the Corydoras, the pea puffers,…

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