Mother Nature must be really in a pleasant mood as today is nearly 50°. The sun is beautiful with a backdrop of the bluest sky and nary a cloud in sight. The fact I have to go to the dentist today is mitigated by how wonderful a ride it will be. That, I never expected.
Walking to school every day only bothered me in the rain. I didn’t mind the cold; my mother was a bundler. In pleasant weather the sidewalk was shaded by leaves from the giant trees which bordered it. We walked over railroad tracks, the same ones we followed as far as we dared on our Saturday excursions. One side ended not far from where I crossed them, but I never found the other end. I still don’t know where they ended. It’s one of the mysteries left over from my childhood.
When I visit my sister, I take the same routes I used to walk as a kid for the sake of my memories and a bit of nostalgia. Sadly, most of the old houses I used to pass are gone, replaced by brick apartment buildings. The tracks too are gone. The trees still stand tall along the sidewalk, but they’re all that’s left. As I pass the familiar streets, I tell myself things like the red store used to be there, the white one there, the lady from France lived in that house and the house on the hill was where the Kimballs lived. My mother and the Kimball’s mother went to high school together. I don’t remember how many kids she had, but there were many. Their house always seemed to need paint. The shortcut I used to take through the grass from Pomeworth Street is now a real walkway with steps. I think it was put there because across the street from the end of the shortcut is housing for the elderly. My father used to call those apartments Wrinkle City. His mother lived in one of them. One of my uncles lives in one now as does the aunt who is younger than I am. Driving by the apartments, I still chuckle a bit and think of my father.
My turtle was buried in a tin box in the woods that used to be where the apartments are now. As I drive by, I approximate the exact burial site. Grass is there now. I wonder if anyone found the tin.
