I didn’t mention it here, but Bubba, one of the two new goldfish we bought the Babito passed away less than a week after we brought him home. Clearly I made the right choice in not becoming a marine biologist. He died the night before my parents were babysitting the Babito for the day.
I discovered him floating on his back and quickly removed him and gave him a proper funeral in the bathroom.
The next morning, Babito noticed that Bubba was missing. He asked my Mom about him and she told him that he’s probably sleeping under the pirate skull. Thanks Mom!
He never brought Bubba up again.
A few days ago, Nemo joined Bubba in the great fish bowl in the sky. It was late at night when I discovered him. He too got to take the glorious ride through our sewer system to the ocean.
The next day, I emptied and cleaned out the fish tank and put it out in the garage, where it will most likely stay until some lucky person buys it at a garage sale five years from now.
My wife and i decided that we should tell the Babito that Bubba and Nemo were gone. I started thinking of all the questions he might ask me about it, just to prepare myself.
I decided that I was going to tell him that Bubba and Nemo went up to live with Jesus, and that they were so happy to be up there living in a giant fish tank with all their friends and family.
Last night, I started off by saying “Babito, Bubba and Nemo went bye-bye.”
Babito said “Oh, they went bye-bye?”. He looked over briefly at where the fish tank had been, and said to Mommy “Bubba and Nemo went bye-bye, Mommy”
That was it, no questions at all. He went right back to playing.
I thought about going through my whole speech about Jesus and the fish and the giant fish tank in the sky, but why complicate things, right?
