Diaryland
Other Diaries
Profile
Email
All Entries �
Latest Entry
2002-07-25 - 2:38 p.m.
when my mom was little she had a tiny pet turtle named snookums, the kind that is now illegal in the US. it was the only pet she was ever allowed to have because she grew up in a military family and moved every six months or so. snookums was, apparently, a very good turtle and she and my mother spent many a happy afternoon playing together. one chilly september morning snookums was gone. my mom searched everywhere for her, under tables, beds, in bathtubs and drawers. my grandmother suggested that perhaps snookums had run away into the pond out back, ponds being a very appealing vacation spot for turtles. every day, week after week, until the day that they moved away from the house, my mom sat by the pond and waited for snookums to appear. she never did.
Thirty-three years later my grandmother admitted that snookums had died and they had flushed her down the toilet without telling my mom, they felt it would be too traumatic for her.
the funniest part is that until my grandmother admitted it, my mom had always subtly entertained the idea that snookums had left on a holiday in the pond.
also at what point does a mother explain death to their child, rather than let them sit by the pond and wait for a dead turtle?