Turtles

Last night, we saw my faithful blog-reader Lily and her family, (from a social distance) and Lily's brother and Madeleine were discussing turtles (from a social distance.)  Madeleine began what seemed to be a rambling and meandering story that took a sudden, unexpected turn:

MADELEINE: One time, I was out on a run, and, like, there was this truck parked on the sidewalk, so I had to cross the street, and, like, I crossed back and forth a couple of times, and I was like, running, I don't know, maybe like, crossing the street again, and, like, I ran by...I, like, thought I saw something, so I turned my head, and it was a TURTLE that had been hit by a CAR-

ALL OF US: (gasping)

MADELEINE: And, like, its shell was broken, and, like, it was SQUASHED and its GUTS and BRAINS were FALLING out all over the place!

Oh boy.

This was NOT where I had expected a story about Madeleine running to go.  But then again, I suppose I should know that with Madeleine just about any subject can contain a sudden dark twist!