Norby

       There is a section of the backyard that is mostly trees, no grass, and the only time I take the lawnmower there is for the purpose of mulching the leaves. So, the rock is not in the way at all. But even if the rock were in the way, it would not get moved.

Here lie the remains of Norby

       Under the rock lie the remains of Norby.

       Norby was a newt. Sarah’s third grade class had been taking care of the newt for a while, and one day the teacher asked who would like to take him home for keeps, and Sarah raised her hand.

       She named him after the character, Norby, the mixed up robot, from the Norby Chronicles by Janet Asimov. They were Sarah’s favorite books at the time, and she is having a blast sharing the stories with her own children these days.

       Norby the newt came home to stay with us.

       Now at this same time, Sarah’s Dad was out of work – between labs you might say, for just a few months. If Norby had arrived at any time other than these months, there might have been a different ending to this story. Sarah’s Dad was not only fond of Norby but he gave him tons of attention on those days when they were the only ones home. Dad would move Norby’s tank to different rooms of the house every hour or so depending on where the sun was shining. Amphibians are cold-blooded, you know, don’t want them to get too cold!

       If any of us were home when he was carting the tank with that serious look on his face, well, we did tease him a bit.

       I guess you can figure where all of this is going.

       One day Sarah got home from school and immediately asked. “Where’s Norby?”

       Dad was out in the yard and had been doing outside chores for a while.

       Norby was on the deck where Dad had put him and forgot about him several hours earlier!

       Yeah. Norby out in the sun like that for so long was not only deceased, he was well cooked. A black ash in the shape of a newt was all that was left of him.

       Sarah buried Norby in the backyard. It’s hard red Georgia clay back there, but the hole did not have to be very big. Then she found a rock and etched “Norby” into it and placed the rock atop the burial spot.

       Over the years, the “Norby” wore away. But we never tired of teasing her Dad!

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