Tales From Salamander County
Tales From Salamander County
Many years ago, when we were still young, my wife and I worked at a small private school for children who were identified as “emotionaly disturbed.” That meant anything from they were behavior problems in the public school system to they were a little weird. Every summer the children went to a rustic retreat center for a “camping” experience. One summer we were responsible for an assortment of 10 boys who resided in one building. They were 8 to 12 years old. While we were there I told them a story every night after they were settled in their bunks. The stories were about Salamander County, a magic place to which children who were born in the Year of the Toad (every four years) were drawn. They were looking for the Great Toad who periodically made his appearance there. That summer we lived in two environments: the physical assortment of ordinary buildings that made up the camp, someplace in Michigan, and Salamander County which was. . . well. . . somewhere else. . . or maybe not. It was a trying but wonderful time, and even now we remember those boys as though they were family.
Jay Edson
I don’t remember most of the stories I told. But six of them can be accessed below: