Lessons Learned at the Gold Fish Pound.

I knew better than to go to the goldfish pond. Maw had told me twice. The old house was dangerous, and it was too far away for her to see what I was doing. I couldn't stay away though. I was five, and under the big box elder I found another world. I was still young enough to know for certain that magic was real, and here was proof. The little oval pool might as well have been a 1,000ft deep. I figured it was, and filled with unknown monsters. The water looked almost solid. It was thick with dark green algae. Every little bit, flashes of gold popped from the dark green water. There must have been a dozen or more fish still living in the pond. They would roll up and break the surface to gulp air, exposing their scales to the dappled sunlight. They looked like glowing eyes winking under green lids. I never tried to catch one; I was afraid something would pull me in. The old house had been empty for a good twenty years before I came along, probably longer. Its untellin' how long the fish had been there.

I saw Maw coming from way across the field. I knew it was too late, and I knew she was serious. I noticed the belt in her right hand. Maw didn't fool with sending you after a switch. She keep three or four on top of the fridge. "In case one breaks," she offered for a reason. The belt was next level. There was a sort of ethic around whippins in my family. Things like, never hit a kid in the face for any reason, always explain what the whippin' is for. Belts were considered harsh punishment, and reserved for times when the point needed to be made clearly. I reckon Maw was worried I'd fall in and drown. I had already pulled a stunt at the town pool when I jumped out of the baby pool and ran straight to the big pool. It was five feet on the shallow end, way over my head. I remember sinking to the bottom, and seeing people under the water. I felt my Maw's hand as she grabbed me and lifted me out of the water by my curly yellow hair.

Watching her walk to the pond seemed like an eternity in an instant. Before I could get half way through "I'm sorry," she grabbed one hand, and we started the dance. She was holding the belt in a loop with both ends in her hand. After four or five licks, she lost her grip, and the buckle hit me in the face, square on the nose. I pleaded, "Stop! The buckle hit me in the face." She stop, fixed her grip, and softly and sincerely said, "I'm sorry." Then she finished my tanning. She whipped me 300 feet back to the trailer. I've measured. A belt whippin' from Maw never came from a place of hate. It came from a place of fear; fear that that she'd lose me. That little goldfish pond might as well have been 1,000 feet deep to her, and see knew well there were monsters lurking in the world.

This day was the first time I've been back to the gold fish pond in thirty two years, for any one who doubts the effectiveness of corporal punishment. It was sad to see it really. There's still water, but the fish are gone. The little concrete tub was the most amazing thing I had seen. It was its own little universe. A place were little golden stars flashed in and of existence. I wonder if their tiny skeletons are resting between the leaf layers of the past thirty falls.

My journey into the past, takes my thoughts into the future. I imagined the tree falling, the soil from the roots washing down into the pond, minerals replacing the bones. The hills wash away, the Appalachians grow again, and again round and mellow with old age. A child finds his fossil near the edge of the cool water. He knew better than to be in the creek, he'd been told twice. He looks up and see's her, determined, coming across the field.

Fossilized Tree