When I was a kid in the 1960s in Lafayette, Louisiana, my sister and I would sometimes accompany our mother to the hairdresser. While we waited for her, we'd go out the back door for awhile and hang out in the quiet parking area which was paved, as was not uncommon at the time, with shells. I'd look inside shells that had not opened, and wonder about the creatures whose gooey smelly remains were inside.

I'm not sure if they were oyster shells, but I do know I looked for pearls inside without success.

Oysters never interested me as foodstuff, but they were popular locally. Everyone knew that oysters were available mainly in the months whose spelling included the letter 'r'. And at Thanksgiving, it was oyster dressing that was served with the turkey.

One of the poems recited by a kid in an elocution contest at Mt. Carmel school in Lafayette in the 1960s was 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' by Lewis Carroll (a poem found in 'Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There' which was a sequel to 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'). It has stood out in my memory. In the poem, a number of oysters join a walrus and a carpenter on a stroll along the beach. It begins:


The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright—
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.


And the story ends with stanza 18:

“O Oysters,” said the Carpenter,
“You had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?”
But answer came there none—
And this was scarcely odd, because
They’d eaten every one.