The Turtle

The turtle sloshes thru the mud, thicker than it should.  He has lesions on his head, all around his eyes.  It still has his bright painted yellow, red, and orange colors. As a crane blasts his baritone trumpet like call he’s searching for a long lost home.  The water and land marks have been misplaced.  

The turtle looks skyward, but his vision is dimmed by the sting.  The sting of years of fertilizers and pesticides staining his fresh waters.  No longer the teaming swarm of fry.  The eggs now gelatos ooze.  The turtle lowers back his head and continues his methodical plod.  One can notice if closely observed, one rear clawed paw he is missing.  Perhaps a skirmish with a feisty gator testimate to his strength and resilience. 

 No care does the turtle have for the stranger,  looking at him in disgust as the tears well up inside.  The turtle looks to be of eight years or so and he shows the scars.  One can only wonder what must be inside him.  His innards are a mass of lesioned bumps and warts.  He is in constant pain, a constant belly ache and confusion at times.

The stranger reaches out as he clicks with his tongue in effort to sooth the gentle one.  No fear does the turtle have, for this stranger is different.  Stroking his shell the stranger shifts and touches his previously injured foot.  The turtle feels a bit of a surge.  His belly and head feel whole and clear again.  Paddling away he doesn’t have a new foot but he feels better than he has in a long, long, time.  The stranger now looks skyward and notices a lone hawk searching for his mate. 5/15/06 Bryan A. Stross

POST EDIT ADD 12/4/2022 SonDay 7AM EST

That post was hand written in 2006 & posted in 2008.  It is in part a factual story & in part fictional, cuz no one really knows how a turtle feels…or do they?

Where my mother lived there are lots of small lakes, creeks & marshy areas to support turtles & all kinds of other creatures.  That is where I had the experience & inspiration to write the Turtle.  But all my life I’ve watched, chased & saved turtles from the simple hazards  of crossing a road, finding water, safety, or just simply being turned upright after a tumble.

Towards the end of the road leading to the clubhouse there is a decent flowing creek when it rains, which June in Florida has plenty of.  I was driving the 15 MPH community road when up by the creek I see a hump in the road.  There’s a few large soft shell turtles  that call that creek area home.  They are very old & large as turtles go… with a shell that stands 2 feet tall & 4 feet around they are gentle marsh giants…this is what was in the road & it was in trouble.

Someone had run her over, her shell was cracked & blood oozed from under her belly forming a 3 foot puddle in the road.  She was still alive, this had just happened, but already two vultures waited in a nearby tree.  I was sad for this creature & mad as to who would do such a thing in the middle of the day when darkness can not be used as an excuse.

My first reaction was to pick her up & get her off the road.  As I sat her down in the woods by the creek, the vultures lifted off their branch & I had a second thought.  She needed the protection of the waters in the  creek now swelling & flowing from the recent rains.  I picked her back up & walked over to the bridge area over the creek, laying on my stomach & as gently as I could, I dropped her the remaining several feet to the flowing creek where she landed with a loud flop & disappeared from view except for a few inches on the top of her shell.   I stayed  there looking down at the marsh grass &  dark water not knowing if she’d make it with half her shell cracked.  I said a soft prayer as a few tears fell into the creek…& they were greeted by air bubbles…bubbles from an injured, but grateful turtle.

The next morning I stopped by the bridge over the creek expecting to see her…but she was gone.  The creek level was bout the same & no remains could I see.  I will never know how she fared, but I did all I felt I could & hoped for the best.

But, stories never really end & this one is no different.  It’s now September & we’ve been getting a lot of rain.  I go outside to the back patio & there’s a painted turtle in the back yard, plodding his way towards the patio.  Now there’s no real water source for a few hundred yards so this guy is either lost or determined to get somewhere.  

As I walked up to him he does a 180 and starts to scoot thru the yard towards the hedge row that has a few inches of standing water in it.  Before he gets there I notice he’s a healthy looking turtle unlike the one from 16 years ago, he’s moving good, his shell & head are shiny & he’s got good size.  And then I see it & know this guys not lost…he’s just come by to say hello.

You see to my amazement…his right rear clawed paw was missing, just like the one I crossed paths with 16 years ago.  A coincidence, perhaps, but a healing experience for me as once again Nature returns her favor.

Spend time with Nature, even in its simplest forms & She will bless you with a healed heart & calm mind.

Bryan A. Stross 12/4/2022. 8AM  EST  SonDay

Isaiah Chp. 5 vs. 1-7. & Isaiah Chapters 11-12 

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