PART 3 QUASI’S MEMORIES
1 Rockette’s Winter
One warm spring day, when an egret flew down to Deeper Pond to see some turtles out of hibernation basking, He noticed there was one turtle that wasn’t with the rest of its friends on the island but was already swimming. Didn’t this turtle have to “thaw” from the winter sleep too? Why? What happened?
Well, the previous year, all the turtles had gone into hibernation together, but one warm day in Dec., Rockette the turtle woke up out of her sleep and swam with the handful of the carp in the pond. To her horror she realized she was the only turtle awake! After that, for 63 days, she had to paddle around in the icy waters alone. She probably found more strength inside herself than she knew she had.
The long months passed, and her friends finally woke up,began basking.
But before they’d all finished drying their shells, temperatures dropped again, and the turtles went back into hibernation. Rockette couldn’t be left alone! But no; one turtle stayed with her when all the others disappeared. It must’ve been to see this turtle that Rockette was able to keep going those icy months.
That one turtle was named Barney, after Barnabas in the Bible who stayed with Paul when all the others ran away.
2 Play, Forgive, Rest
Slit, a red carp in the pond, when she was young, loved action games just like human children. Her favorite play? It was called: “Oh no; I’ve been seen!” Slit swam slowly towards someone on the bank. But when the person saw the brilliant orange form in the water, Slit acted like she saw the person just then and darted away.
At first, June didn’t realize Slit was playing and wondered what she did to scare Slit. Of course, now June knows it was all in fun—as a matter of fact, Slit is too old now to shoot around like that, and gracefully glides through the water anywhere she goes.
Once, when June was standing on the bank near the Irrigation Ditch—a place she rarely views the pond from—she saw a black carp swimming quite a ways away who responded to her voice.
“What a smart, friendly carp,” she thought. “Can I give you a name?” she called out. But the carp seemed almost displeased.
June thought it huffed, “I already have a name!” It paused, then swam closer. She recognized the golden-tinted bronze carp then.
“Copper! SORRRREEE!”
June hopes carp know the difference between those who forget friends and those don’t know who they are when they see them from a distance. Honest, Copper!
Probably a carp June will ever hold dear to her heart is Winnie. She looked like a carp in mourning with tiny bits of glowing orange peeking out of her black lace gown. It must’ve been a weak carp, because the others seemed to gather protectively around it.
Perhaps the memory that stands out to June is the saddest. Most animals leave other species alone. But one time, when a Crow noticed a Human teasing Winnie, a Carp, this bird flew in angrily at the shoulder of the person.
“Leave her alone!” the bird cried, then flapped to a branch nearby. It wasn’t much, but Winnie was weak.
But the damage had been done, and the next day, the corpse was found in the reeds. Rest now, Winnie.
3 Seeing Quasi
Did it seem one afternoon, when June went up on the bridge and saw Quasi coming, that something was different about her? June couldn’t explain it, but she sensed something was about to happen.
But she didn’t seem to do anything unusual. Rather, she swam to the bottom of the pond and curled into her shell and stayed there. The place she swam to, the light’s rays angled to hit the shell just right, and all the flecks and chips and dents could be clearly seen.
“Quasi?”
It seemed the answer came back, “Take a good, hard look June.”
June realized she had never really looked that way at Quasi before. When she met Quasi, she thought the turtle may’ve had some kind of sad happening in the past but never gave it much thought since then.
Suddenly, June wasn’t sure, but her mind saw images of a lawnmower, a turtle—Quasi--getting caught in it and then being blamed, finding her way here to the park. Could that be what really happened? Was it her imagination? She looked at Quasi. If it was true, June wanted to cry.
“What can I do?” she thought. Quasi swam away. June went home that night, troubled by…what she wasn’t sure she’d seen.
The next day, when June and Quasi met, there seemed to be fewer flecks and chips on the shell, and the difference between the front and back levels was less apparent. June wondered if it was just her imagination. But Quasi’s improvements continued steadily, and one day, June found herself saying, “Quasi, you’re beautiful! How am I going to tell you apart from the others?”
(Well, she felt Quasi had a lovelier head than the rest and swam towards her when most turtles ran away from human beings.)
“But how did this happen?” she asked Quasi.
“When you learned my full story and you hurt for me,” Quasi answered, “for some reason, that set me free, and my physical healing began.”
June’s husband—the one who spotted her that Midnight walk--doesn’t recognize Quasi anymore!
4 Two Terrorists and Monty’s Rock
Okay; they weren’t “terrorists,” but two little girls were terrorizing the carp at Corner Cove when June came back from the other side of the park. With twigs as weapons, they reached into the area where Serra Fin and his carp family cowered. Because the carp were on the other side of the creek, the girls couldn’t quite reach them, but sometimes they got uncomfortably close.
Little girls can be mean. They began throwing pebbles and sticks into the bush. In a desperate attempt to distract the predator—this is the job of the father—Serra Fin jumped out in the open, hoping to draw off their attention. The girls looked at him for maybe half a second, but since he went to the center of the pond, they resumed their attack on the carp home.
Serra Fin turned around and came back, stayed a little hidden but watched, worried for his family. June saw the girls couldn’t do any real harm because they were separated by the stream but was glad when their mother called they had to go home. When they were gone, Serra Fin came out of hiding, and rushed back to see everyone was safe.
One of the girls came running back and threw her twig at the carp. They had to leave the park, but just to be mean, she threw it at them!
June was so upset at the girls, she wanted to cry. She told Serra Fin only of how glad she was that they were all right, but then she told Quasi about what had happened and how frustrated she felt. That is when Quasi gave her the flat, orange rock.
“What’s this?” June asked.
“I’ll tell you later.” Quasi said. “Guard it with your life.”
For awhile, June wondered about where Quasi could’ve gotten the rock, what value it had, etc….
After some time had passed, Quasi told June Monty had given it to him as well as explained what it meant. Some problems, you just can’t do anything about, he’d said. Can’t fret about it; put a period on it and go on.
If necessary, think about…a rock.
5 Parting With Serra Fin
“Little terrorists can be scary, but what they do is on the mild side,” June’s husband had said; “since it’s play, it’s temporary.”
June went to the park one morning and told Serra Fin about an exciting e-mail response from someone who’d been a friend over 30 years ago. She thanked June for her letter, saying she was just thinking about her the day before.
“Serra Fin, I made a difference in her life! She hasn’t forgotten me, said she was thinking about me!”
“Yes,” Serra Fin thought; “but can you imagine how happy she was to get your first e-mail that you were thinking about her?”
June felt whopped both sides of the head with big bangs of “happy” and couldn’t think of anything else to do but say a big, “Thank you, Serra Fin!”
Serra Fin seemed happy to have made June happy, and swam away. When June returned from her walk, there were some young mothers with their toddlers at Duck Pond in a very good mood. June saw they saw a pretty white carp—it looked especially happy today, swirling around in the water, leaping out of it here and there, making them—the kids--squeal with delight and clap their hands.
June was glad she’d let Serra Fin know of her love. Duck Pond was dirty and needed to be cleaned, it was decided. Most of the carp there were removed, and Serra Fin was never seen from again.
Granted, that carp looked like a glistening pearl with sapphire eyes, but its worth to June was the simple wisdom the pond angel surprised her with time and time again.
“Why are you beautiful, outside and inside too?” June had teased; “some of us have to struggle with even one of those. Not fair!”
6 Rainbow & Early Butterfly
One day, after all this happened, June was sitting on a stone stool at the edge of the pond, looking at the clean water, wondering what she’d do for the day. The park was full of laughing people celebrating the spring festival. It was for this yearly break, when schoolchildren would be at the park, the pool was cleaned. Now the place was full, people leading pets, others in traditional costumes, still more munching on snacks sold at stands.
Yes, the pool water was clear. It had been cleaned, and the rocks at the bottom could be seen. But there was no Serra Fin swimming in it. In the midst of the gaiety around, June couldn’t make herself smile.
But instead, she noticed the fountain in the middle of the pond turned a little, and in the seven years she has lived in Iwatsuki, she had never seen this—the spray and the sunlight formed a soft rainbow—not once, not twice, but over and over. It was as if the water was shouting to June:
“Maybe this park has been through the rain; but here’s something to let you know the sunshine’s coming, so heads up, Junie!”
And as if in support of that, a white butterfly announcing summer—she was very, very early—fluttered over the water and landed on the grass by the side of the pond.
“Really! Count on it!” It seemed to say. And it flew away.
How was June to know that because Quasi’s shell healed, she could be joined to Mr. Terto, June’s favorite turtle at Duck Pond?
How was June to know that when Rockette died after her long winter struggle, leaving Barney to swim alone...he would notice another turtle Anna—Mrs. Monty—swimming alone, and the two would be perfect for each other?
How was June to know that on the next rainy day, 27 carp would come up from Deeper Pond to Duck Pond, to replace the ones she thought she would never see again?
How was June to know? She didn’t. There are lots of things she doesn’t know, just looks forward to.