Something Fishy's Goin' On

When I first contemplated moving back to New Jersey, I forgot to account for a few things I had acquired since I had moved out to CA. Most notably, my fish, Leonard Nimoy, and what seemed to be about 40 tons of paper.


I'm not the kind of person to go buying pets and then abandoning them. the purchase of an animal is a special contract that says you're taking responsibility for their life and welfare. Even if it is something as mundane as a blue Betta.

Figuring out a way to transport my fish was a bit of a conundrum. There was no way he was going to fit into those little shampoo bottles with their narrow necks. No, what I needed were spice jars. I was sure I'd seen jars large enough to hold Leonard, but small enough to get through airport security. More importantly, I remembered where I had seen them: the Ace Hardware store in El Ceritto had sold me several spice jars for my spice collection while I was in housing for work. I desperately hoped they were 3 oz. or less. Sure enough, the label on the shelf said they were 3 ounces, even though the plastic didn't claim it anywhere.

I made sure that when I packed for the flight, I included the Ace Hardware bag and the receipt which claimed I had purchased three 3oz. plastic bottles. Exactly what I was carrying. It ended up not mattering. Security didn't ask.

Leonard Nimoy and I did raise quite a few eyebrows at the Oakland Security Screening, though. And I'm guessing that at 6am (or any time, for that matter), they probably don't see many people taking their fish on the flight with them. Dogs maybe; cats potentially; fish? most likely not. And a few of the security screeners got a good laugh seeing how freaked out I was when they joked with me that they had run him through the x-ray machine. I just about lost it!

For all the pain and obnoxiousness they put you through when you're rushing to make your flight, at least the screeners still have a little bit of a sense of humor.