Turtles young and old. Turtles live longer than humans, did you know? They lumber around and some will snap your finger off. Others just lumber around. They sleep all winter and come out in the summer to bask in the sun.
There came a turtle. The biggest one in the neighborhood. How can I say how old it was? Many years, many years. It moved ponderously slow. It was huge -- a few feet long.
Jody -- that was his name -- waited till the turtle was at his feet. The rest of us were marveling at it. Oh why did I just stand there and ignore the ax he had? I had no fear of Jody, I was fast and tough. Even with an ax Jody was no threat to me.
Suddenly his face lit up! He brutally swung the ax and reswung it, once twice -- each time into the turtle. He was quicker than the turtle -- he chopped off its head -- or rather sliced the head in half. He was happy!
I grabbed at the ax and screamed -- as I can do -- a blood-curdling scream. It stops people in their tracks. He let go the ax and ran. I flung the ax down and chased him.
He ran to his house, into his kitchen. He ran to his mom. I ran into his house after him. I tore him from his mother and pummeled him into the floor. His mother screamed -- her baby! In her eyes he could do no wrong.
She pulled me off of him and pushed me out of the house. But I had already bloodied his nose and lip -- she went back in to attend to him.
Did Jody change? Yes. He stayed out of my way, and his family moved out. Did Jody change beyond that?
I doubt it. A psychopath doesn't change.
But that is no reason, imo, not to hope and work for a better future.