3/21/22 The Turtle Pond

 The Turtle Pond

“Mommy look! A turtle, a turtle!” the little girl shouts. Through the grass of the girl's front yard, a small turtle slowly moves forward, one step at a time. 

“That’s weird, we don’t have turtles around here,” the mother says confused, looking at the small turtle making its way through the yard.

“Can we keep it?” the young girl asks excitedly.

“No, but we can find it a new home.”

The little girl’s face falls, sad for the loss of a potential pet. The little girl and her mother find a tote and add some grass and leaves to make a temporary shelter for the turtle. They bring the shelter to the house next door to show the neighbor girl who shows the same excitement.

“What are you going to do with him?” the neighbor girl asks.

“We are going to find him a new home,” the young girl says confidently.

“Cool.”

The girl and her mother leave, to determine where the turtle's new home will be.

“I have an idea,” the mother says to her daughter,” our neighbor a few houses down has a pond in front of his house, maybe the turtle could live in the pond!”

“Yeah! Let’s do that!”

The mother drives the little girl and the turtle to the neighbors house. They approach the door, the little girl clinging tight to the temporary turtle shelter. The mother knocks on the door. The neighbor man opens the door, a little confused as to what is going on.

“Hi, my daughter found this turtle in our yard, “ the mother says, pointing to the turtle in the tote, “And we were wondering if we could put it in your pond?”

“Umm sure,” he says, a little taken aback by this odd request. The man watches as the little girl and her mother walk towards the pond.

The little girl gently takes the turtle out of the tote and walks to the edge of the water. “Goodbye Mr. Turtle,” she says as she lightly tosses him into the pond.

Years go by and as the girl grows and learns more she realizes, a turtle on land might not do so well in the water. Every now and then she is reminded of the fact that there is a good chance she killed a turtle that day. The curiosity of what happened to the little turtle keeps her awake some nights. She hopes the turtle was able to swim enough to get out of the pond and was able to live a normal turtle life.


The End

3/21/22

(Author's Note: This is a true story. I am the little girl. Yes I sometimes lay awake at night wondering if I killed that turtle.)


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