Make Me Smile

We decided to reconnect our granola, earth-sheltered house to the grid before the first snow fell last November, and, after years of watching every watt, we indulged. We used an electric dryer over the winter and  renewed a relationship with our crock pot. I even adopted a school of tetras and a guppy, setting them up  in style with a few plants and a little stone thinker girl.I added a Plecostomus, also known as a Suckermouth Catfish -- technically a bottom feeder -- to control  algae.  He was a little shy at first, so I named him Herman the Hermit, resisting the urge to name him after some politician.Soon, I caught him whispering in thinker girl’s ear, and her smile seemed to grow (he must have been telling her how well he'd clean the tank because he did). Her beaded hat gleams, which made me realize most politician are not bottom feeders.  Bottom feeders performs a useful service, after all. And, anyway, how many politicians would think to make a woman smile by cleaning up without being asked?