There is a dead fish in my freezer.

He was once blue and red, about the size of a silver dollar. Now he�s gray with frost.

Getty, AJ�s birthday present fish has been ill for several weeks. We�ve tried many things to help him out and it appeared the anti-biotics, obtained after some difficulty through mail order, were helping. On Monday, Getty was looking like his old self, swimming around his tank, making a nest of bubbles on the surface. Then yesterday, his firecracker colors looked faded and he was hiding behind the filter.

But it was the Fourth of July and AJ had other things on his mind. We played baseball in the yard until it was time to got to the family party where we spent the afternoon at a cousin�s house playing bean bag toss and outdoor ping pong and horseshoes and bocce while drinking beer and eating and eating and eating. It was a spectacularly beautiful afternoon and we ended up down the street at a park playing baseball. This year, AJ�s generation (with the sole exception of AJ) is finally old enough to play, so we had more than enough people for two teams, when you added in L�s new fianc�, who has a problem with over-compensating. But he�s an actor, so I suppose that�s to be expected. Still, when he jumped up and grabbed the branch of a tree � was he frustrated at grounding out or just showing off? � and the branch tore from the trunk under his weight, he found himself suddenly and definitively on the ground under a large piece of wood. The game paused while it was determined that his pride was hurt more than his body. He headed home for a band-aid as the White Sox were declared the winners. The rest were kind enough to hide their snickering until after he had gone. But really, there is so much kindness in this family, that it is almost a relief to find them having a laugh, even a small one, at someone else�s expense.

AJ watched for a while and played catch for a while. When the game was over, his uncles stayed to play whiffle ball on the field while AJ tried to run around the bases as fast as Scott Podsednik. As we packed up the bases to go, the cars waving Italian flags started rolling by. �Viva Italia!� After still more beer and dessert and a big cone of rainbow sherbet for AJ, we headed back home. He had a sandwich while we lit sparklers in the back yard and let them twinkle until they disappeared. Then it was time for bed. We headed up to AJ�s room and that was when we discovered Getty.

I was the one who saw him first, suspended upside down in the middle of the tank, the filter current ruffling his fins. AJ burst into tears when I told him the news. He asked for a backyard burial, so we put Getty in the freezer to await his final resting place. AJ wants to bury him next to Mr. Stein, the cat and has drawn plans for headstones for each of them. Mr. Stein�s will say, �Nippy Kitty.� Getty�s will say, �I got him March 25, 2006. He died on the 4th of July.�

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