Synthetics Where Appropriate - YSM2023

Bob had always considered himself to be a conscientious environmentalist, or whatever lay people are called, not professional or activist, just regular people trying to do the right thing. He wore all natural fiber clothing, cleaned cans thoroughly and removed the paper labels before recycling; rode a bicycle to work.

He decided to set up an aquarium in his house. Of course he bought a few books first so as to proceed properly and correctly so that his fish would be healthy and happy.

He bought the aquarium, set it up, had the water sitting for a minimum of 7 days, already had a list of top fish species known to live harmoniously, communal it's called. For the filter he used polyester poly-fill which was his one concession to synthetics, mainly because he had it on hand for re-stuffing pillows.

All went great for a few months. He had tetras mostly, one goldfish, an angel fish, and two sword-tails. He kept a gallon container of distilled water at the same temperature to replace water lost to evaporation. Changed the filter materials as needed. Yes, healthy and happy fish.

Disaster struck though, when the bag of synthetic polyester poly-fill was empty, and it was time for filter cleaning. Bob looked in the cabinet under his bathroom sink and found a bag of cotton balls. It looked like they would work. Should be fine. So he put them in the filter, put the filter in the aquarium, plugged in the pump and rode off to work.

When he returned home, Bob was met with an aquarium all clouded up, fish at the surface, gasping for air. He immediately unplugged the pump, pulled out the filter, and started catching the fish in a net to transfer them to a plastic pail in which he had poured the distilled water.

The goldfish gasped it's last breath, "I die".

Most of the fish survived, some later developed infections from which they did not recover. With the reduced population came a reduction of happiness as far as Bob could tell. He sadly adopted a new motto:

"Synthetics where appropriate"

- The End -

a reply to: pthena

Very good, pthena!

Apart from the black comedy aspect, my takeaway from your story is a broader picture. Can mankind survive outside of the "fish bowl" if forced to revert to a completely eco-friendly world? Would our fates be similar to your fish? Has evolution taken us past the point of no return?

a reply to: Encia22

Thank you.
Feel free to interpret, but:
I assure you that the highest meaning in mind at the time of writing this was "can I take some topics which I looked up on the internet while in this thread about fabrics which spun off into chlorine and aquariums and spin it into a story that would fit the topic of spinning around?"

My tentative answer was "yes?"

And so it spun out quite organically from there. Cotton dissolution in water is physical rather than chemical, in that it breaks down into ever smaller fibers. That's what caused the cloudiness in the water.

Also, my neighbor's alder tree is infested with silk worms for some reason. They build this protective webbing within which to carry out their eating of leaves. I have yet to see a bird get through it and eat them.

Addendum:
I have considered your take on this story and a story more fitting to your question is percolating. Alas, I have already submitted my entry.

a reply to: pthena


Neat story that. I liked your explanation of how you came to it too.

a reply to: pthena

That's wonderful! Same words, a hundred interpretations; I guess that's the beauty of short stories.

I'm glad my take on it stimulated another idea. The good news is that you can enter as many times as you like..., but you can only win once. I look forward to it!

a reply to: Encia22

The story you inspired is now up.

Shoot! I forgot to dedicate it.

a reply to: pthena

LOL, no worries.