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Life Sketches by Terry Berkson

Made in the Shade: There’s More Than One Way to Curb a Rooster

Clever thinking plus antique lampshade equals crisis averted. (Photo by Terry Berkson)

I once had this beautiful tropical fish that was mutilating and eating up the rest of the fish in the tank. It looked like he would have to be flushed down the drain, but before doing so, I tried threading a piece of dental floss through his tail with a sewing needle to create a drag that would slow him down when chasing after the other fish.

“Isn’t that cruel?” my wife, Alice, asked when she saw the streamer trailing.

“It’s better than flushing him,” I told her.

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