A Sad Late Night "Goodbye"

It is with sadness I have to announce that my son, James', pet bearded dragon, Spike, passed away late last night.

At the beginning of the month I mentioned that he had hemorrhoids. At the time we all thought it was just a temporary medical condition but he didn't get any better. James took him to the vet and was giving him medicine. However the reptile never got better. As a matter of fact I was supposed to take Spike to the vet again today but things turned out badly last night.

James came home just as we were getting ready to settle in for the night. Paula was about to go to bed and I was going to relax and watch some TV. He came in, went to his bedroom and found Spike in his cage, lifeless. It really upset him.

He went to the our storage barn and got a shovel. He dug a hole on the side of the house while Paula and I held flashlights so he could see. Instead of a shoebox being his means of transport to the vet it became part of his final resting place. Sadly in the late night coolness under the illumination of a pair of handheld flashlights our son buried his bearded dragon.

I thought I should have said something to comfort James but really there was nothing to say but "I'm sorry." I guess just being there with him was the best we could have done.

After he was finished he took the shovel back to the barn and Paula and I went back into the house. A few minutes later we looked to see if he was still out in the barn but he wasn't. We couldn't find him for a few minutes and I started to be concerned. Paula started to go back out to the side of the house to look for him. As she did James came around from the side and met her.
He had gone back to the grave to say his own private "good bye."

So Spike, the bearded dragon, is no longer part of our family. He will be missed. There will no longer a reason for a bright light to be illuminating from James' room even though he is not home. In the overnight darkness of our house there will be no chirping from the crickets who managed to allude the lizards slingshot tongue with which he pursued them after they were poured into his cage earlier that day. "Good bye" Spike we'll miss you and always remember you as our first family "dragon."