Thinking of Turtles

thinking of turtles I go straight to fables: The Tortoise and the Hare - and how slow and steady wins the race that same old story, been there, done that think back think back - I’m back in grade school now Mom didn’t like dogs and cats, so she got us a turtle which died in weeks probably not a good idea - one small shared turtle passed around among six pairs of small eager exploring hands I think that to live a really long time a turtle needs to be gigantic like those huge ones on Galapagos. . . how I loved learning in junior high geography things like how those tortoises can live longer than my grandma and how folks can ride atop their hard shell backs! riding riding. . . now I’m back in high school riding in a boyfriend’s car, sure I must have been snuggled close to him, but maybe not he was really into rules and I can’t remember when wearing seat belts came to be a law! Alvin was the name of this tall good looking guy a year or two ahead of me in school but in a different school from mine across the Mississippi in a town of Illinois his hair was dark and wavy, his eyes were brightly blue even his nose was perfect, and he was so sweet when he invited me to church camp across the river for hours playing handsies covertly on our pew we listened to religion droning on and on and my mind was not on God later at his house, making out I never would have let him get too far but I could tell he thought I was too fast. . . I remember thinking as he drove me home how slowly and carefully he maneuvered that car how slowly he articulated every word he spoke and it entered in my mind this religious rule abiding boy with the perfect face and lips that gave such perfect kisses drove, talked and probably thought as slowly as a turtle Alvin never dated me again I wonder sometimes what he’s doing now and if slow and steady won the race