By Ross Henry
In first grade you learn a lot of different things to start your schooling career. One
imperative thing that you learn is basic math: addition and subtraction. Now in my first grade
class we had to do these hundred question practices, called “Math Facts” in five minutes.
At home I had two parents who were elementary school teachers, so they made sure I was
at the top of my game. At home, they made me work on math problems, analogous to the
ones that I worked on in school. On one particular night, my dad made me a deal that if I
could do the hundred questions perfectly in less than five minutes, then we would get the
thing I had been begging for, a fish tank and fish.
I did it! So that night we went and bought a hexagonal fish tank, coral blue fish tank
rocks, and three splendid gold fish that we named: Tick, Tack and Toe. For all intents and
purposes this was the first animal I myself owned. We went home and set it up in the corner
of the kitchen. When I went to bed that night the fish tank looked magnificent and the light
from the top of it shining on the three fish. The next day at school I told every single person
about the new fish tank and fish that I had.
When I went home that night and looked in the fish tank, one of the fish was playing
dead man’s float. I was mortified! The worst part about it was that I didn’t know who it
was: Tick, Tack, or Toe! I could not tell! So instead of flushing it down the toilet like most
people do, I had to have a funeral for the 25 cent fish.
Like most kids that age, I loved building things and I especially loved making things
out of wood. As part of respect for the fish, I made him a cross out of a Clementine crate
and paint. The casket was a first-rate old shoebox with an excellent lining of paper towel.
When everyone was ready, all six of us walked across the field and to the woods. I was
dragging a shovel and was very solemn. We all stood around in a circle as my dad dug the
grave. I looked over at my brother and sisters, and they were shaking with sadness (or were they laughing hysterically?). 
We put the box in the ground and shoveled the dirt back on it, and I pushed the cross into the soft mud. My dad asked me if I wanted to say any special words but I told him he could, so he did, and so did everyone else in my family. Some of their comments were like “He got to be in the country before he died” or “He sure had a good loving owner for the short time he lived with him.”
It’s tough to say things about a fish that you knew less than a day, but they all did anyway. We walked back to the house and when we were about half way, I turned with my dad and looked back into the direction of the grave and said, “Man, am I going to miss that fish!” Three days later the second died and then a week later the third one died.
Even though I had these fish for such a short time, it really makes you appreciate life and value it.
Ross Henry of Bainbridge will be a Kenston High School freshman this fall, and is working a summer internship with the Spirit of Bainbridge
Tick, Tac & Toe (reprinted from the July 2009 issue of the Sprit of Bainbridge)
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