My Turtle

I watch the fog rolling down the valley. Like a cup leaking from the bottom, the mists seem to flow down the sides of my valley revealing those living there. One by one the houses appear.
As I watch I lose myself in thought.
My memories are like this fog. It starts with a small glimpse of an object. I concentrate on the unknown thing I see inside my memory.
What is it?
Slowly it gains definition.
A shape: a spiral?
I concentrate and it comes into focus: A spring?
With this the flood gates open.
I see the playground.
I smell the grass.
I feel the warmth on my skin.
The sun is out.
The sky is blue!
I see kids playing.
One by one I recognize the faces.
I know them.
What are their names?
Then we’re laughing, the girls are screaming in pretend fear as we chase them! “MMmmm!” smacking my lips like I’m going to kiss her!
Donna and Michelle duck under a picnic table!
With my turtle I chase them! “My turtles gonna Kiss You!”
Did they like me or was it my turtle?
Well, my turtle was pretty cool!
He was my show-n-tell that day.
Michele’s was spiral graph!
Almost as cool as my turtle!
Donna puckers up “I Dare Ya!”
I move my brave turtle towards her face!
“Here he comes!”
I pull away the turtle and give her a quick kiss on the cheek and take off running!
“Timmy!”
“I’m gonna sock you!” and the race is on again!
This time I was running to save me and my turtle from a fate worse than death!
Catching cooties from kissing girls!
As the day ends, my friends either go to the buses or start walking home.
I had just turned five or six and wasn’t allowed to cross the streets alone.
So, I waited for my brother or sister to walk me home.
My brother walked me home that day.
We talked about how the girls chased me and how I did just as he said and “kissed” Donna!
I was lucky I didn’t catch the cooties!
They nearly caught me!
If it wasn’t for my turtle, I would be a goner!
We walk and talk about how he liked to kiss girls and how Sue kissed boys all the time. We continue past Smally’s Garage talking about how it didn’t count because I kissed her on the cheek!
He grabs my hand and makes me say our little thing from school.
“Cross on the Green and Not In between!”
We start across the street and a huge blue thing runs into us.
I’m further ahead; I just get bumped by the fender which sends me flying to the other side of the street!
Rick isn’t so lucky. He rolls right up on the hood and falls off to the side!
The car speeds off down the main street running the rest of the red lights by the Glen.
Rick wasn’t moving.
I was sore but I wasn’t really hurt!
I looked down and my turtle was; "mushed” by the car that hit us.
I picked up my poor turtle, looked at my dead brother and started running home.
I ran to my mom, “A car s mushed my turtle AND Rick’s DEAD TOO!”
My brother wasn’t dead, but he did have a concussion.
Nothing ever came from it.
Well, what did you expect?
You can’t hold the governor of New York State responsible for running over a couple of kids and running a few red lights now, can you?
At least he paid for my brother’s hospital stay.
I’m still waiting for reparations for my turtle.
To add insult to injury, I found out he’s my cousin!
Well that fits in with my family perfectly.