re: Turtles Two Thousand & Thirteen (2013)

There's a little pond that's pretty much in the middle of the metropolis that is Destrehan, La.

When I was a kid - I'm talking 35 years ago now - a buddy of mine's dad worked at one of the offices by this pond. Some days, we'd go to his job with him, and fish in that pond all day.

I've seen some ponds that were dogs before, this was the mangiest of all the dogs. I'm talking crap everywhere in it, grocery baskets, tires. A true s#@thole.

There was an elderly black gentlemen (that we nicknamed "Mudbone") that used to fish this pond with us. He was only after turtleses and gawfishes. Had no pole, rod, or reel. He used trot line skring, with those big saltwater corks.

He caught a snapping turtle in there one day that I kid you not must have weighed 75 pounds. The image of this older Negro gentlemen pulling that big turtles head out of his shell, and cutting it smooth off after many whacks with a machete has never left my mind. Nor has the image of him walking off from the pond, holding the dead turtle over his shoulder by the tail.

Small things look bigger when you're 11 or 12, but I'm not kidding y'all, this thing's shell was every big as big as a full size tire.