The Fourteenth Goldfish

Ellie, the narrator, had a preschool teacher who gave every kid in her class a goldfish. To the parents, she explained, “The goldfish will teach your child about the cycle of life” (2). Goldfish don’t live long; soon, everyone’s fish has died except the narrator’s. Her fish lives seven years. In fifth grade, the narrator arrives home to find the fish belly up in the bowl. She bemoans the death until her mother explains that every time a fish died, she’d get another one. This goldfish was the thirteenth.

Ellie decides she’d rather have a dog.

At age 11, Ellie is an avid jigsaw puzzler. She’s working on a 1,000-piece puzzle, a picture of a New York street complete with taxicabs. Ellie’s sitter, Nicole, performs in a high school drama class directed by Ellie’s mother. Nicole says Ellie’s mom is at the police station, where they have Ellie’s grandfather.

They order pizza and try to guess how Ellie’s grandpa got mixed up with the police. Nicole thinks maybe it was a car accident because, she insists, old people are way worse drivers than teens. Or maybe he has Alzheimer’s and wandered off.

Ellie’s granddad is an inventor who went to Harvard and is miffed that his daughter didn’t follow in his footsteps but went into acting.