First count.
– – Say, did we buy nine, or eight, fish?
– – What’d you mean?
– – Fish… Tropical fish… Did we get nine for the kids?
– – We bought eight, Charlie… Remember how Kim wanted the little pink one…
– – Well, there’s only seven now.

Later count.
– – I count four… No, one of them’s in the sunken treasure at the back of the aquarium.
– – How long have you been staring into the tank?
– – These fish seem to be disappearing about one a week, or so…
– – They’re tropical fish. That’s what they do.
– – Cheryl, I thought they’d live a little longer.
– – Okay… But like everything, they die. Then, they just kind of disintegrate.
– – Like everything, huh?
– – Wait a minute. Did you say to the kids that something strange was going on?
– – I said it was ‘fishy’…

‘Fishy’.
– – Don’t give them ideas, Charlie.
– – What’d you mean?
– – It was you that told them one of the fish – probably the big orange one – was murdering the other fish, wasn’t it?
– – He did bite the tail off one.
– – Yeah, but he’s not a carnivore for God’s sake. I don’t even know if he’s a he…
– – I just thought…
– – Look… Now Kim and Carl are all upset… So, it was you that started them thinking about murder in the fish tank.

Later count.
– – How about that. We’re down to two.
– – The big orange one’s still there, right?
– – The kids got a little upset. But I told them it’s not his fault.
– – Look, it’s been at least two months, right? And two of the fish are still going strong.
– – I told the kids it happens.
– – Ecclesiastes, huh?
– – Ecclesiastes?
– – You know, Charlie, everything in its season… A time to live, and a time to die.
– – That’s good. I’ll tell them that… I’ll tell them it’s a good thing to know about life, now that you mention it.
– – Leave me out of it, okay.
– – What’d you mean?
– – When the kids were upset about losing so many fish, I said, ‘Your father will buy you more’…