The Rockin' Rodents

Tina Turtle, Drummer of the Gods.

 When Jerry arrived at the dump the next day, after leaving his parents with the excuse of going to study at the Head Banger's house, it struck him that a lot of weird stuff happened at the dump.

He met Johnny at the entrance and they went to Jimmy's house. He couldn't have expected to see what he saw. Outside Jimmy's house was a large glass aquarium. The glass and the water bent and smudged the image of Jimmy's place like some kind of crazy painting Jerry had seen on a school trip to the Roche forte Museum of modern art.

 Inside was a turtle. Yet, the strangeness didn't stop there. The same turtle was playing the drums on its shell and various other objects, ranging from a plastic pirate treasure chest to a hermit crabs shell.

 The sound must have attracted the local rats that worked the dump and scavenged anything useful for use back in the city. They had brought pots, pans, and spoons anything that made a sound when whacked. A glorious beat reverberated around the dump. 

Those rodents, who weren't playing, were dancing and jumping, lost in the rhythm like small children, suddenly aware of their heartbeat, entranced and joyous all at once.

There in the center was Jimmy, shaking his moneymaker, tail swishing, beating out a melody on long steel pipes from a dream catcher. He chose his notes carefully, not slipping into the frenetic banging of the others like he was guiding everybody, giving shape to everything.

"Come on kid! Join in! It's a Jam session" shouted Jimmy over the sound of the percussion.

Jerry couldn't see any jam but could feel his toe-tapping. The beat was infectious; it entered his ears and went straight to his heart, bypassing his brain. Soon his head joined in. bobbing up and down, his tail joined the party, swishing back and forth.

 Later he couldn't quite figure out why, but instead of dancing, he plugged in his guitar. He paused for a moment, very aware of the fact he didn't know what to play, but something inside took over and he started playing out a simple rhythm. It was nothing crazy, he concentrated on getting the tempo right, following the turtle drummer. Ronny followed suit. Jerry couldn't be certain how long they played. It could have been hours, maybe it was only minutes, but when the music stopped he felt drained as if all his energy had been drained away with the sudden silence.

Jimmy was the opposite; he wore an ecstatic grin on his face as he had rediscovered he could be happy.

"What a great jam! Mouse, what a session," He shouted. He tapped his paw on the glass of the tank.

"That was great! Girl you can play!"

"Girl? How can you tell?" asked Jerry.

"I told him," came a bubbling voice as the turtle came to the surface to sit on her rock surrounded by leafy plants.

"Hi! I'm Tina," she said.

"Hi, I'm Jerry, pleased to meet you, you're a great drummer. How did you get here?" asked Jerry.

"I'm an unwanted birthday present. The little boy didn't like his new pet and his father dropped me off here. So, here I am, trapped in this aquarium," she said sadly.

"Maybe we could, you know, break you out, it's only glass after all," said Ronny.

"Who's the bass player?" Jimmy asked.

"Name's Ronny Rotten, I'm the new member of your band," Ronny said before Jerry could think of anything better.

"Band Huh? Funny; I don't remember forming a new band. Do you know anything about this Jerry?"

"Well, I was thinking it might be great to have someone else to practice with," Jerry replied meekly, knowing that he was running out of truths to spin into lies.