on the tip of my tongue

I'm notorious for burning my tongue. I forget that spoons and forks stay hot. I'm glad that tongues heal fast. My tongue has been good to me. I bite it once in awhile and so far it hasn't bitten me back. Except for a lashing here and there I've been pretty lucky. Lickings can be nice with the right tongue. I've eaten tongue too. Beef tongue. With gravy and mashed potatoes. Back in 1972 while I was in Poland backpacking my way through, I stopped in a little village on the outskirts of Warsaw. I went into the fields with the men to cut tall grass with a sickle. I don't really know if it was grass, wheat, alfalfa or whatever...but I do remember it was hot that day and I was sweating. When me and the Polacks got to the end of our day, we were near a well and a wooden bucket attached to a rope. The one man that was with us (let's call him Walenty) picked up the bucket and threw in down the well. Walter (Walenty) (actually Valentine) (maybe not, I'm never quite sure) (so much gets lost in  translation) and pulled it back up from down under. The bucket was the bucket, but the content was shimmering from the reflection of the sun and our collective thirst. Since I was a guest I was given the bucket first. My lips hit the rim with gratitude, I slurped with joy and passed the bucket over to the the man closest to me and from there on and on it went until the bunch of us were sated. And the last man placed the more than half full bucket on the ground and the cows came out of the field too to slurp this drawn up elixir. That night, no one butchered a cow, but we drank some milk and cookies and then slept well for the morning trek to the fields for more sickling. In the morning I was awakened by a tiny sandpaper feeling on my slumped arm over the bed I was sleeping in. It was a kitten from the barnyard cat that someone from the house thought was appropriate to bring home. And thus, this kitty that my daughter rescued recently (pictured above) ....has a funny tongue too.....but I'm glad she found a home  Lick.