The Memory

"In this part of the world a chief will commonly ring a bell at each draught of beer which he swallows, and at the same moment a lad stationed in front of him brandishes a spear 'to keep at bay the spirits which might try to sneak into the old chief's body by the same road as the beer.'" -James Frazier, The Golden Bough, pg 194.

        My first memory I remember is when i was playing in a sandbox.  I was digging around in it looking for things and carving up the moist sand with one of my mother's gardening tools.  Next door to my house was a daycare.  The kids next door started talking to me and looking at me.  I continued to dig while I looked up and talked to them.  Then they all had a shocked look on their face's.  I didn't know what was going on until a girl younger than me pointed down.  I looked down and saw i had taken the tool deep into my big toenail.  Of course after looking at it, the pain surged up and registered in my brain what I had just done.  I screamed like a cat that had its tail run over.  That is my first memory.