The Park Lesson by Maxime McKenna

A statue of three turtles caught the attention of a boy as he walked through the park with his mom. They were made of brass and set on the ground, and the boy was proud to find that he was bigger than the turtles.

“Do you know what animals these are?” asked mom.

“Turtles,” said the boy.

“Very good. And which is the biggest turtle?”

“This one.” The boy touched the leftmost turtle. It was hot from the sun.

“And the smallest?” asked mom.

The boy pointed to the center turtle.

“And the medium-sized turtle? The medium-sized one?”

“This one,” said the boy while lightly kicking the rightmost statue. “Daddy turtle, mommy turtle, and baby turtle. That’s me! Ira the Turtle!” Ira the Turtle smiled.

“And which is the happiest turtle, Ira?”

“That one.”

“The biggest turtle? Are you sure?”

“Um, this one?” Ira pointed to baby turtle.

“Ok. Now the saddest turtle.”

Ira tried the biggest turtle again.

“No. The saddest turtle, Ira.”

Ira considered the turtles. Faint shimmers of heat rose from their backs.

“They’re really hot, Mommy. Feel them. They need shade.” He opened his t-shirt and held it over the sculpture.

“Ira.”

“Feel them, mommy.”

“Ira. The saddest turtle, please. Ok, fine. The selfish turtle. Do you see the selfish turtle?”

“I don’t know. I don’t like turtles.” Ira spun in place on his right heel.

“We’re going to have to start over, Ira. Now, which one is the biggest turtle?”

A statue of a bear watched mother and son from across the park. Its mouth was open slightly, which interested Ira, and it stood on a marble pedestal, taller than he was.

“Mommy, look, a bear!” he said. “I want to ride him, I want to ride him!”

Mom followed Ira, who was making little growls in his throat, to the bear, and placed him on its back. But once up there, Ira began to panic.

“You want down?”

“Yes!”

“What’s the matter?” asked mom, putting her son back on the ground.

“It’s the bear,” said Ira. “He doesn’t like you, mommy.” And he ran away.

Maxime D. McKenna lives in Philadelphia and writes fiction, among other things. He works at the Kelly Writers House, on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.