The Turtle and the Lawn Mower, by Caroline Richards

The turtle moved sluggishly across the field and didn’t seem to notice or care that a lawn mower was coming around the corner, right towards it. It just kept its slow, serene pace. He had small eyes, a shell that was almost, but not quite, too large for its small body. He had a pointed tail that dragged along behind him and two small nose holes right in the middle of its small sour face. His lined mouth was curved slightly downward in a small frown, not that he was unhappy, but then again, how can you tell? He just kept moving forward as if it was hard to lift its tiny little legs forward and backward. When he got to the middle of the field he stopped and stared in complete calmness as the giant lawn mower progressed. The small turtle raised an eyebrow at the man on the lawn mower, he had shorts on and hiking boots on his feet, which the turtle thought was odd because in his past experiences he had used boots as a hiding place. The man also wore an odd little device on his eyes, they where black and pointy. The little turtle tilted its head as if to say ‘wow, humans are weird.’ The weirdest part about the man on the lawn mower was he seemed to have a circular object with a hole in it sitting on his thigh and every now and then he would pick it up and bite it! I know, completely ridiculous but that’s what the little snapping turtle saw. He squinted his eyes to get a better look but he just saw the same ridiculous thing! Then to the turtles horror the man put the whole thing in his mouth and climbed out of the lawn mower. He started to walk towards the little turtle and much to the turtle’s dismay reached down and picked him up in his hands! The turtle was furious! He thrashed and flailed and clawed and even tried to bite his hand. But the man held on tight and didn’t seem to let go until they went into this odd looking building where a kind woman, who didn’t squeeze as hard picked up the turtle and gently put it in a large dome. It had water and lily pads and…FISH!!!! The turtle swan around with glee, bubbling and eating and then he had a headache. So he sat down and enjoyed the warm sun while chewing on a fish bone in his new home with the donut eating man and the gentle lady. Though he was still upset with the donut man for not letting him have a bite.

Painted Turtle, photo by Caroline