M is for Memory

My earliest memory is our arrival to Turtle Bay. Mum and Dad had just settled on a beachfront house and was taking me and my two older siblings to see it.

The final road before you get to the beach is long and straight and gives you a beautiful view of the beach and most of the harbour as you get closer. Two huge Phoenix Palms greet you at the beach looking like you’ve just driven into an American movie or TV show. My little 4 your old brain was fizzing at the grandeur of the trees. So tall and thick – I would learn in my next 20 plus years living at Turtle Bay that those trees could withstand many wild storms and provide nests for scores of little beach birds. They are totally immovable.

Then I saw what lay between the trees. A huge black and white cow had died on one of the neighbouring islands and had somehow been picked up by the ocean. The currents and who knows what else had brought it to Turtle Bay’s shore and laid it ceremoniously between the giant Phoenix Palms.

We drove right past the car turning right towards our new house and I’m sure my eyes bulged as much as the bloated cow’s body. I wonder if there had been a small yet definitive POP noise as my brain took in the scene.

It was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

I was so amped to move to the beach.

However long after, we did move to the beach. I strained in my car seat to see dead Bessie – but there was just grass and sand in between the Phoenix Palms. Wind and tides had eroded some of the land between the palms and I always thought it looked like a nice cradle – for a big dead cow.

Not long after we moved in, I started school at Turtle Bay Primary. My teacher, Mrs Richardson, brought me up in front of the class to introduce me and get me to say a few words about myself. I told everyone that I lived at the beach, but it wasn’t that great because there were no dead cows.

It took me awhile to get past my heartbreak.