Ron said he was leaving Julia the twenty-five gallon aquarium, "because I know how much you love it." At the time, this was true. However, now the noise of the water bubbling through the filtration system, formerly a susurration that ensured Julia went to sleep immediately and slept soundly, seemed more like soft vicious laughter. The two fish, that she had previously never paid much attention to, suddenly seemed to be looking at her with mockery in their bulbous eyes. God, how could she not have noticed how fucking ugly those black mollies were before now? As for the plecostomus, which Ron had named "Jake", she renamed, "the monster." It would just sit at the bottom of the tank, appearing to stare out at her with condemnation in its eyes. A situation made more infuriating because Julia found herself unable to determine which set of eye-like appendages on its hideous head were the real ones. When not looking at Julia in judgment, the vile beast would plaster itself to the front of the container and gnash its teeth at her. Julia suspected that the real reason Ron had left her with the fish tank was that it would have been too much of a bitch to take with him when he moved out. Difficulties encountered while attempting to change the water, a task previously left solely under Ron's dominion, strengthened her suspicions.

Julia successfully transferred the smaller fish to another container, but "the monster" refused to cooperate. The creature made it clear that one as inexpert as she was not going to get it into a net, thrashing around whenever she tried and being generally contrary. After fighting with it for fifteen minutes she threw the net down, exasperated.

"Fuck you!" Julia decided to siphon off just enough water to leave the pleco covered. However, a twenty minute search of the apartment revealed none of the equipment required to do the siphoning, and using a large measuring cup to scoop the water into a bucket proved to be annoyingly tedious and quickly tiring.

The tank was on a stand in front of the bedroom window, and as Julia was reaching behind it to raise the casement, "the monster" jumped out of the water. Startled, Julia heaved the window frame harder than she intended and it hit the top, cracking the glass.

"You BITCH!" Julia screamed and shoved the half-emptied aquarium out the open window before realizing what she was doing.

The seconds it took to fall seemed like an eternity, but the sound of the tank shattering on the pavement five stories below was one of the most delightful sounds Julia had ever experienced.