#135 Were Boys on the Loose

Lake Lansing lapped lazily

Upon the shores near where we played

My best friend Jeff and I

Finding adventure in the woods and water

We were equipped for anything

In sneakers and jeans

I think we had sticks too

You never know

What you might want to poke at

And on this day

We found something great

It was a dead turtle

We poked at it

We peered at it

We flipped it

We flopped it

Eventually

We decided to cut it’s head off

I swear I don’t know

Which one of us came up with the idea

We were eight years old

So really, could have been either of us

So I took my pocket knife

And snicked open the blade

A blade so dull

That no sane person would have used it

But, it still seemed like a good idea

We stretched out his neck on the ground

And I started sawing at it

Not much happened

Imagine rolling a piece of rubber around

With a butter knife

Then something made a crunching noise

And some goo came out the turtle’s mouth

That was enough for me

I dropped the knife

And threw up in the stream

Jeff may have laughed

He probably should have

We pushed the turtle back into the stream

To do whatever it is

That dead turtles do

And we walked back to his house

There were Lego masterpieces to build

Tents to set up

Dirt to move around

And probably a good snack waiting in the kitchen