A Turtle in My Tub

So I picked up this turtle today. She was crawling along the pavement in a back alley I often take while tooling around town. Nearly hit her. Kept going and then some part of my brain stopped me, “that was a turtle man.” So I picked her up after looking around for awhile, making sure some kid wasn’t playing with her or something. I guess I made a value judgment, that the turtle would be better off in the woods than the city. Maybe it was a city turtle though.

I’ve been a little hesitant about “helping out” stray animals ever since my sister told me when I was five that a caterpillar I picked off the street and took home was probably heading back to his family and would now never get there. So I hope that isn’t the case.

Anyway, the turtle spent the morning in my bathtub. And around 11:30, I took her and my pooch to a local Nature Preserve. I thought about keeping her but decided she’d probably be better off back on the street than locked in an aquarium. Again a value judgment I suppose.

So I dropped the little damsel off at the slope of a creek and that was that. Me and the pooch went for a walk and now I’m back home. Not sure why I did it. Don’t feel better cause I did and I might not do the same thing if given a similar situation, although in my thirty plus years this is the first turtle crawling in a back alley I’ve ever encountered so the chances of lightening striking twice are remote. But I did it. I gotta think the turtle’s happier out there, but maybe it’s another example of people fucken with nature.

June 23 2005 02:36:17 PM EDT