Long, long ago, skipping school
For cookie dough
Came the age of fear of cooties                                                                                 
The age of cartoons all day long,
The age of no taste whatsoever in books and in song.

I lived in Heber,
South of here,
In a log cabin,
Fairly near,
The woods!
Just not really!
But I’m trying to set the mood.

Our neighbors,
  were disliked.
      And hated.
          Utterly loathed.
Not by all, but the little ones thought more of thorn than of rose.

My parents certainly liked them,
My siblings...
not so much.
We went down by the beach,
Under our parents cruel clutch.

The rocks, so rocky!
The day, so sucky!
Only to be made worse,
By buckets of water.
...I wanted my ducky!

Water reaching for my feet,
As my skull and the rocks meet,
The confusion beyond belief.
All too shocked to even weep.
Running, cutting my feet,
To the van, ready to meet
so we could drive.
So far away.

Hoping I’ll just stay alive.

Ok, that’s a bit dramatic.