Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The question


"Why are you so green?" I asked the turtle.

"You ... know, " said the turtle, slowly, and stopped.

I waited for a few minutes, but the turtle did not continue.

"I know what?" I asked.

"That ... old ... saying," said the turtle.

"Old saying?" I asked. "What old saying?"

"A ... rolling," said the turtle, and stopped again.

"A rolling?" I said.

"Stone," added the turtle.

"Oh, I know!" I said. "A rolling stone gathers no moss!"

"That's ... " said the turtle, and hesitated.

"That's what?" I asked.

"Right," said the turtle.

There was a long silence as we both thought about it.

"And so?" I asked, finally.

The turtle sighed once or twice. Then it said.

"I ... am," and paused for a long time, staring at the sky.

"You are what?" I asked, impatiently.

"Not," said the turtle, decidedly.

I waited for a few minutes, but the turtle did not continue.

"Not WHAT?" I demanded.

" A ... rolling," said the turtle.

"A ROLLING STONE!" I shouted.

"Exactly," said the turtle.

We were silent for a while.

I frowned.

"What was my question again?" I asked.

2 comments:

kenju said...

I thought of you this afternoon when we found a duck taking a refreshing dip in our backyard pool. Wile I was posting a photo of him, I wished I could come up with some imaginary repartee - like you do.

Love the turtle!

Lia said...

Brilliant. You have a gift for making these things real. When's the book coming out?