It was about 9:00 p.m. I was sitting at the kitchen bar finishing my supper when I heard this incredible scream coming from the backyard.

"Eeek!! There's a monster in our water garden!!"

Sandy was beside herself. I don't think I've ever seen her move so fast. She came running into the house and yelling that she had finally seen one of the three plecostomus in our pond.

You must understand that it had been nearly four months since our visit to the local pet shop. We purchased three plecostomus and when we got home we put them into our 2,600 gallon water garden. They were only about 2 1/2 inches long and I remember saying, "As big as our water garden is, we may never see them again."

Boy! Was I wrong.

I could hardly understand what she was saying because she was so excited. Between a few scattered words and her gasps for breath, I was getting the message that she had finally seen one of the plecostomus as he came up near the top for a few sprinklings of food that Sandy was feeding the goldfish.

I don't think I have seen her this excited in the years we've been together. You would have thought she hit the big jackpot at the casino.

"Larry. . . You won't believe it! It was (gasp!) this long," she said as she stretched her hands the length of nearly a foot, "It was a monster!" Gasp! "I can't believe what I just saw!"

"That's nice, dear." I said as she led me by the hand to the side of our water garden. I could imagine that her shriek most likely scared the dickens out of the fish and we would surely "never" see it again.

We stood by the side of the water garden for nearly an hour waiting patiently, hoping to catch a glimpse of this scary monster, but alas. . . it wasn't about to oblige us now. . . if ever again.

"Honey, I promise you it was this big," she said, again gesturing with her hands a length I couldn't quite imagine. Remember, it had only been four months since I slid those tiny creatures into the depths of our water garden.

I finally gave up waiting. Sandy camped out on the edge of the water garden for a while longer armed with a giant flashlight hoping in vain to see it again.

She hardly slept that night. She told me that she dreamed about our grisly monster. She became obsessed with wanting me to see what she had seen. She even suggested that what she saw may have been an upside down water lily. Was she seeing things?

The next day she spent lots of time by the water garden poking around the lilies and tossing an abundance of fish food hoping to lure it into sight. She was obsessed with getting another glimpse of our mysterious fish and having me see it to verify that it was as big as she said it was. It didn't happen.

Two nights later  -- Again I had just finished supper when the patio door burst open and Sandy hollered, "Larry! Come here quick! And bring the flashlight! Hurry!"

Our water garden is about 70 percent covered with lily pads and hyacinths. She had cleared a large circle that would allow her a place to toss some food for the goldfish, but I knew that secretly she was waiting for Moby Dick to again make another appearance.

I grabbed the flashlight and met her at the top of our heart-shaped water garden. "Look there! On that rock! There it is!" She gave me a hug and squealed, "Oh boy! I'm excited! You're gonna get to see it!"

I shined the flashlight on the spot that she pointed to and sure enough. . . "WoW!! What a monster!" In only four months at least one of our plecostomus had grown to nearly 8 inches in length. As soon as he knew he was in the spotlight, he slithered into the depths of the water garden. Stage fright I supposed.

Sandy was delighted that I too, had experienced actually "seeing" our monster and that she wasn't just seeing things.

Since we completed the water garden in April, 2000, Sandy has allowed me the privilege of getting into the waist-deep water garden, cleaning away the algae, clipping the lilies, and various other water garden chores. She had expressed a fear of getting into the water with the goldfish knowing that three plecostomus were lurking on the bottom of the water garden.

Interestingly enough, recently she had been talking about finally getting up the courage to get in the water garden to help. And now? Looks like I've been elected the permanant water garden keeper for many years to come.

Copyright © 2000 - 2008 - Larry James.

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Slide Show - Part I