Dear all:
I am trying to find a short story I remember from when I was a young adult (about 30-35 years ago). The story itself was a classic, likely from the 1950s-1960s, and probably by a very famous author.
In it, a man was getting ready for work that day. That morning, his wife (I think) complained that his children's goldfish had jumped out of their bowl and made a mess and the fish was dead (i think) on the table. The father and mother said something like "if you cannot keep your fish in their bowl, we won't allow you to have fish" or something like that.
The man then went to his work, which apparently was as an astronaut. He got in the rocket, it took off, escaped Earth's gravity, but exploded in space.
Then the scene changes and it is some much more advanced sentient beings. The "father" comes down and sees the mess and says to his "wife" that their "child's" pet humans have once again escaped from or jumped out of their world and made a mess of the local space near them, and the "parents" basically say that the "children" will not be able to keep humans if they keep jumping out of Earth and making a mess.
Does ANYONE remember either the name of the story or the author? As I recall, this was only a few pages or so.
Many thanks -- this is my first post and this is driving me nuts!
I am trying to find a short story I remember from when I was a young adult (about 30-35 years ago). The story itself was a classic, likely from the 1950s-1960s, and probably by a very famous author.
In it, a man was getting ready for work that day. That morning, his wife (I think) complained that his children's goldfish had jumped out of their bowl and made a mess and the fish was dead (i think) on the table. The father and mother said something like "if you cannot keep your fish in their bowl, we won't allow you to have fish" or something like that.
The man then went to his work, which apparently was as an astronaut. He got in the rocket, it took off, escaped Earth's gravity, but exploded in space.
Then the scene changes and it is some much more advanced sentient beings. The "father" comes down and sees the mess and says to his "wife" that their "child's" pet humans have once again escaped from or jumped out of their world and made a mess of the local space near them, and the "parents" basically say that the "children" will not be able to keep humans if they keep jumping out of Earth and making a mess.
Does ANYONE remember either the name of the story or the author? As I recall, this was only a few pages or so.
Many thanks -- this is my first post and this is driving me nuts!
