Page 15 - SB-Newton and the Needy Newts

He mumbled to himself, “Now they all like Nellie better than me. And just because she has that stupid stripe down her back. It just happened because she shed her skin ... seems to be fading already. But everyone is making such a big deal about it. This just makes me so mad!”
I could tell that Newton was getting himself all upset because the others were paying attention to Nellie and her new stripe.
Then he said, “They are paying almost as much attention to her now as they did to me when I was red. Wait a minute ... that is what I will do... be red again. Then they will all like me better than Nellie.”
And that is exactly what he did. He crawled back under that same rock I told you about at the beginning of the story. When he came out from under it, he was red all over.
He climbed on top of a rock and called out for all of the other newts to look at him. But to his surprise, there was not a newt to be seen.
Of course, you remember me telling you about how a red newt stands out on a gray or brown rock. It is too bad that Newton was more concerned about impressing others than about avoiding predators. Unfortunately, this marks the end of the story of the needy newts.
12