Children's / Too Many Turtles
Too Many Turtles
by Janyce Helen Van Es
In a lake between Oklahoma and Texas, there are many kinds of fish. There is a big, long fish called a Carp, a short fat fish called a Perch and a long fish with a flat head called a Catfish. He is called a Catfish because he has whiskers like a cat. This fish likes to swim along the bottom of the lake. There are other kinds of fish, also. There are fish called Stripers, Gar, a Carp, a Perch and so many more that the lake is like a big neighborhood that has many animals, each different looking and special. There are also many soft shelled turtles. All the little animals in the lake usually get along with each other but just like people, they sometimes argue or disagree on things. Mostly though, they treat each other like a big happy family.
Mamma Turtle has had so many babies, that she can’t remember what she has named them. So, she just lets them pick out their own name when they become old enough to do so. The big turtle family lives near a barge where people come to go fishing. This story is about five of Mamma’s little turtles and an adventure they had in the spring of 2004.
Chapter 1: Home
“Now, sweetie,” you could hear her say,“ don’t forget to watch the top of the water when you are under it, because sometimes a little fly may land on the water to get a drink. Flies are so very tasty. Sometimes a moth will land over there by the light, and they are a little fuzzy but you will like to eat them too.”
Everyone’s name was “Sweetie” to Mamma but each turtle knew his or her own name.
“My name is Slowpoke, Mamma, because I like to take my time”
“Okay, Sweetie, I will remember that!”
“Mamma, my name is Speedy, because I like to swim ahead of everyone else!”
“Okay, Sweetie, I will remember that!”
Even if the turtles told Mamma their name, she would always forget it because there were just too many turtles to keep up with each one‘s name.
Slowpoke and Speedy weren’t the only turtles that lived in the lake with the fish. Three of the turtles named Hookworm, Forgetful and Too-Small, were brothers of Speedy and Slowpoke. Hookworm was called that because he always grabbed at the worm intended for the Catfish and he had many, many scars on his mouth. He never learned his lesson when he hurt himself on a hook and so he kept biting them.
Another turtle was named Forgetful because he could never remember. He couldn’t remember if he had eaten yet. He couldn’t remember who his brother’s names were or even what to call Mamma. Sometimes he would forget his own name and someone would say, “You are so forgetful!” Then, he would remember it.
Too-Small was always giving an excuse why he couldn’t do something. He was too small to reach the top of the rocks (and turtles like to sunbathe or even moon bathe on a rock). He would have to climb on top of a turtle and sometimes climb on top of two turtles who made a ladder for him just so he could get to his favorite place to sunbathe.
None of the five turtles were happy where they lived. They were all so bored, just swimming around the same places, tired of the same old fish in the bay , and eating the same old food.
“I am so bored with this place,” Hookworm would say,“ I guess I will live here forever and never see anything different!”
“I am so tired of swimming in the same place,” said Speedy, “ I want more places to swim!”
“ I don’t remember anything any more. Nothing is interesting enough for me to remember!” said Forgetful, “ Nothing seems important!”
“Mamma don’t even know who we are and we are her very own hatchlings!” said Too-Small, “If we just disappeared, no one would miss us.”
All the five turtles were sad living where they lived and wanted to go to a different lake so they could do other things.
One night, as the five friends swam and played (and even ate some delicious algae), a big net came down into the water and scooped up Forgetful. They saw him dumped into a bucket and the bucket was picked up and taken away to a big truck.
All the other four turtles saw it happen and wondered what was going to happen to poor Forgetful.
“He will forget what happened,” said Slowpoke.
“He may forget his own name,” said Speedy, ”No one will be there to remind him!”
“He will forget us and we are his brothers and his best friends!” said Too-Small.
“Maybe the fisherman will throw him back like me!” said Hookworm.
The four turtles waited for this to happen and were really hoping that Hookworm was right. The lights in the sky above the water started to get bright and the lights under the water by the docks were off now, and there was no sign of Forgetful.
Unhappy at losing him, the four little turtles sank down to the bottom of the lake and tucked their arms, legs, tail, and head into their little green shells and went to sleep.
Chapter 2: The Aquarium
Forgetful felt the net grab at his little body and he tucked in his little arms and legs just as far as he could. He even tucked in his head so if there was something big out there, he would be well hidden.
He could feel himself being dropped into a bucket of water. There was a splash and then he sank to the bottom. There were big fish in the bucket also and he floated down under the fish. He could hear the Catfish babbling as always but there was fear in the babble. He looked out of his shell just a little bit.
The bucket was small and there was just enough water to keep the fish alive. They saw him. They knew that if there was a fish trapped somewhere, the big turtles would eat the fish and they looked at him very carefully, trying to judge his age by his size.
“Don’t worry about me,” Forgetful said, “ I am afraid just like you! My name is, uh, well, anyway, I am trapped in this thing like you! I want to get out too!”
“We are somebody’s dinner, we are!” said the biggest Catfish, ”Maybe you will be someone’s dinner too!”
“Oh my, oh my,” said Forgetful. While he began to think of what the big Catfish said, and then he forgot exactly what it was that he said, and just tucked himself back into his shell and tried to remember. He fell asleep dreaming about the yummy algae around the lights and his friends reminding him why it was there. “Why is it there?” he wondered out loud to himself, as he fell into a deep sleep.
.
He woke up only hours later; something had picked him up and put him somewhere. It was a bigger place this time and had small colorful gravel at the bottom and a stack of big rocks in the middle. He could see other turtles in the glass around the water and the rocks but when he went to the glass and tried to touch the other turtles, he couldn’t. He didn’t know why but every time he tried to touch a little turtle like himself, the wall of glass would be there. He didn’t know what a mirror was and he was so sad thinking that he would never touch the little turtle in the glass. Forgetful looked around at the big rocks and climbed up the side of some to see above the water. He took a deep breath and saw that he was in some sort of big glass box and there weren’t any other turtles on the other side of the glass.
Chapter 3: Hookworm
The four little turtles sometimes spread out to find food. Slowpoke was only left little bugs to eat because he was so slow. Speedy always caught the big bugs before they could fly away because he was so fast. Too-Small sometimes would climb on Speedy’s back to reach the little water-bugs. He was afraid they would all be gone if he climbed on Slowpoke’s back.
“I wish we didn’t have to chase after the bugs. I wish they would come to us,” said Too-small.”
Hookworm always looked for bits and pieces of bait that the fishermen dropped. He would swim along the bottom of the lake and find little minnows or half eaten worms. If he wasn’t too careful, he would eat a worm that was still on the hook. Now today was one of those days.
He saw the little wiggly worm trying to get off the hook but Hookworm didn’t think about why the worm wiggled. He just thought about his empty belly. He opened his mouth real wide and bit down on the little three prong hook. “Ouch!” he yelled (muffled because the hook made his mouth stick together) Then the most horrible thing started to happen. The hook started pulling poor little Hookworm up to the top of the water. The others swam quickly to grab their friend but it was too late. A net came down and pulled little Hookworm out of the water. It looked like the same net that pulled out Forgetful.
“Help me!” he cried, and the fisherman did help him. He took out the hook and threw him into a bucket of fish.
There were no Catfish in this bucket. There was a different kind of fish called a Striper. Now, Stripers were known to be a real snobby fish. They didn’t talk to turtles or Perch or even Catfish because they were brought to the lake many years ago and were from a different lake altogether. Hookworm looked at the big Striper fish swimming around him. His little lip was still sore from the fishhook but saw that the lips of the fish were terrible looking. Some were torn to pieces from the hooks.
“Turtle Soup!” said one mean looking Striper.
“Turtle soup?” asked Hookworm, puzzled?
“We may be fried dinner but you will be Turtle Soup. They make soup out of turtles.” he replied.
“Oh no! Soup? What is soup?” Hookworm asked.
“Well, they put you in hot water and make it hotter and hotter until your little shell comes off and then, they cut you up like little pebbles and eat you!”
“NO!” he yelled and tucked himself back into his shell.
“Don’t listen to him,” said a little Crappie, “He is just a bully. You may not be soup. Don’t listen to the Stripers. They are just bully-fish and will try to scare you. Be brave like me! Even though we know we may have many fishermen after us, we are brave enough to live our lives and keep on swimming, eating and sleeping.
Hookworm crawled tight into his shell and fell asleep, with a tear in his eye (but you would never know because tears and lake-water look almost the same) and fell asleep.
Hookworm woke to a loud voice above his head, “Another one! Oh boy!”
He felt himself tossed into a bit of water and rock, falling down and landing right on top of Forgetful.
Forgetful didn’t wake up. He was still dreaming and thought he dreamed that something fell on top of him but so many things in the lake fall on top of the turtles that they sometimes don’t think about it. He continued to sleep. Hookworm knew who it was he fell on top of, because Forgetful had a little drop of moss growing on the back of his shell and Hookworm recognized it. He was really pleased to see his old friend but when Forgetful woke up, he didn’t remember who Hookworm was. He was just too forgetful.
Chapter 4: Old Friends, New Enemies, Best Buddies
Forgetful was stuck. He was wedged between a rather large rock and the glass wall of the aquarium.
“Help me, you!” he cried , when he saw the other turtle lying in a deep sleep beside him.
“YOU?” Hookworm repeated? “Don’t you know who I am?”
“no…” said Forgetful quietly.
“Well, I can’t help you anyway! I am not strong enough to pull that rock off your back. You will have to try to wiggle out of that mess yourself!”
“Aren’t you the turtle in the glass?”
“He he, no. Guess again. I know your name!”
“Then what is it?” pleaded Forgetful, because he had already forgotten his own name since there wasn’t anyone around to tell him.
“You are Forgetful. I know all about you!” giggled Hookworm..
“Well, that is my name but who are you? I am still stuck!”
At that same moment he said “stuck” a big hand dropped down into the water and freed him from the rock. The rock was removed and replaced with a few shells. Some little round pellets were floating on top of the water, now.
“What are those?” asked Hookworm.
“I don’t know but they taste good and I am going to eat them. They are mine! You can’t have any!”
“Why not? I am hungry too!”
“Because I was here first and I was the first one that they gave them to, so they are mine!”
Hookworm’s feelings were hurt. He hadn’t had a good bite of algae or even a small gnat since he arrived.
“I didn’t know you were that selfish, Forgetful! I thought you liked to share with your brother!”
“Forgetful! That is my name! And how did you know my name when I don’t know yours?”
Hookworm just swam slowly around to the other side of the biggest rock and tucked himself into his shell and went to sleep. He didn’t want to talk to Forgetful anymore because he felt that he wasn’t his friend, now. Forgetful ate almost all the little pellets and was quite sleepy too. He didn’t notice that several pellets floated behind the big rock and stayed there waiting for Hookworm to wake up and eat them. They were now in the same aquarium but on opposite sides of the tank. When Forgetful woke up, he forgot he had a brother close by because a big rock separated them.
In the morning, there was a big rush of water. It woke up both turtles and they saw that it was a waterfall. Hookworm noticed the little pellets floating above his head and ate them quickly before Forgetful saw them. Both turtles saw the water being sucked into this long tube near the bottom of the tank then poured out from the top. It felt good to swim under the waterfall but each one had to make sure their feet missed the big long sucking tube. Neither turtle spoke to each other.
There wasn’t anything to do but sleep and eat. Forgetful pulled himself up onto the highest rock again to see what lie around him.
He saw this large fuzzy creature slowly coming towards the aquarium. He didn’t think it was a fish because it was out of water and breathing air just like he was. He had never seen a creature like this but noticed it had whiskers like a catfish.
The creature became bigger and bigger as it got closer and closer. It hopped up on the table where the turtle’s home was and peered into the aquarium. Forgetful didn’t move. He was scared stiff. A big paw slipped into the aquarium and patted Forgetful on the head quickly! Then the scariest thing happened! He watched the big face with the catfish whiskers get real close to him, open up his mouth, and Forgetful saw the biggest teeth he had ever seen. The mouth moved so quickly that Forgetful was taken completely by surprise as he was picked up by his shell and whisked away to another part of the house!
“Help! A monster has me!” he yelled. He woke up Hookworm, but when Hookworm made it to the top of the biggest rock, Forgetful couldn’t be seen in the water or anywhere else in the aquarium.
Poor little Forgetful was in the corner of the room with big dents on his shell from the big teeth of the monster.
He was getting poked and poked until some big hand picked him up and took him back to the aquarium. A big piece of wood was placed on top of the aquarium after some more pellets were thrown in. Hookworm saw the hand drop Forgetful into the water and ran to him to see if he was hurt.
“Why didn’t you come save me?” cried Forgetful.
“I didn’t know how! And you were so mean to me when I first came here, I didn’t know if we were friends anymore.”
“Who are you?” said the little dented shelled turtle.
“It is me, Hookworm! Your brother and friend from the lake. Do you remember now?” he asked, showing Forgetful the scars on his mouth.
Forgetful started to cry his invisible tears in the water, “I just forget too much! I am sorry, Hookworm. I should have known from the scars on your mouth. Please forgive me! I am so scared of that thing out there.”
”But look, Forgetful! Someone has put something on top to protect us from those big creatures. See? Look Up!”
“They have made sure that we can’t get out, too,” was Forgetful’s answer, “We need to get back to the lake! This is terrible!”
“The food’s not too bad and look! We have each other to keep company with and I will remind you of everything so you won’t forget, okay?”
The two turtles lay their heads on each other’s shells, facing each other, so they could see and protect the back of each of their brother and friend, and went to sleep that way.
Chapter 5: Speedy Goes Exploring
Speedy, Slowpoke, and Too-Small were still waiting for the other friends to come back to their home. They decided to split up and go looking for them. Speedy decided since he was the fastest swimmer, he would go exploring and look for clues that may tell them what happened.
“Don’t end up lost, Speedy,” said Too-small, “I won’t be able to reach my moon bathing place or even reach something to eat way up at the top of the water!”
“Too-small, you need to swim more anyway. You will end up lazy if you don’t. You can’t always depend on someone else to do things for you! What if it had been me that disappeared? Would you just lay on the bottom of the lake and starve?”
“I guess, unless Slowpoke would let me ride on his back!”
“No way! I don’t swim fast enough to carry a snail.” Slowpoke answered and turned to go the other way. He knew he needed a head start to get away from Too-Small so he wouldn’t be his transportation under the water.
Speedy said his ‘farewells’ and headed toward the dock area where all the fishermen sat and threw out their hooks. He listened to each fisherman and tried to understand what was said. He hoped that the ones that disappeared would be mentioned.
All the turtles had heard the fishermen talk since they were tiny, right out of their eggshells and understood a lot of the language.
“We almost lost one turtle yesterday, ha ha! The cat got a hold of one and tried to play with it like it was a mouse!” laughed one big gruff voice.
Speedy couldn’t figure out why a turtle would be afraid of a catfish. He listened some more.
“Then, we put a top on the tank to keep out the cats. The turtles seem to be happy with the food we got.” was the gruff voice again.
“But you can’t just feed them that! You have to feed them bugs! They eat bugs like houseflies! I bet they would like that!” said a kind, soft voice.
“They eat moths and water bugs too! Go out to the pond in the back yard! There will be plenty of bugs there!” said the tiny voice, “I will take a jar out there and collect the bugs for the two turtles! I can’t wait!”
“Two turtles” he said. “Wow! Now, all I have to do is tell the others,” Speedy thought.
Speedy swam and swam until he saw Slowpoke. “Stay here, Slowpoke, I will find Too-Small!” and he found him on a tiny rock trying to reach a bigger rock just outside of his short reach.
Too-Small climbed on Speedy’s back and glided through the water really fast until they saw Slowpoke.
“I heard the fishermen. They have Forgetful and Hookworm somewhere inside a place where they can’t get out but they are alive!”
Each of the turtles were so excited that they jumped and jumped and even Too-small jumped higher than he had ever jumped before, and pulled himself up on a big rock all by himself and was able to poke his head out of the water.
He looked toward the voices and saw a big man, a very short man and a thin man all sitting in chairs with their fishing poles out of the water. They were getting ready to leave, putting things into a big box and saw Too-Small’s head poking out of the water.
Quickly and swiftly, Too-Small found himself inside of a net with his little arms and legs poking out. He tucked in his head and closed his eyes thinking, “Uh oh, what have I done now?”
Speedy and Slowpoke saw what happened from under the water and swam to the very spot where Too-Small disappeared. The fisherman spotted the other two hatchlings and swooped them up in a net too.
Now, all the turtles were sitting in an empty bucket because the fish had outsmarted the fishermen that day. They each tried to grab the side of the bucket and pull themselves up but the bucket was too slippery. Then, Slowpoke crawled on top of Speedy. Too-Small crawled on top of Speedy and then pulled himself up on top of Slowpoke. There was still a white wall of bucket that he couldn’t reach the top of.
“Now what?” asked Too-Small, “I have gotten us all in trouble! “
“Maybe not,” said Speedy, who was wondering when the other turtles were going to get off his back, “ Maybe we will see our brothers soon.”
As each turtle slid off the other’s back and sat in the bottom of the bucket, a lot of water fell on them. In the water there were some bugs so they ate and fell asleep.
Chapter 6: Reunion
Forgetful didn’t know what hit him as a heavy object fell on top of his back just as he was trying to remember who Mamma was in his dream. He then felt another object pound onto his head.
“Is that you, what ever your name is, doing that?” he managed to squeeze the words out of his mashed up mouth.
“It is me, Slowpoke! Remember me?”
“I don’t think so,” he said slowly “but if you get off my head I might know who you are!”
“And it’s me, Too-Small! Remember me?”
Forgetful looked at each turtle as they slid off of the small moss covered shell. They did look a little familiar.
“And guess who is lying on top of me?” asked Hookworm, as he tried his best to pull himself out between a rock and the other turtle, “Speedy! We are all here together again!”
“Is that good?” asked Forgetful, still trying to find a free spot where he wasn’t covered up with turtles.
“Any time family and friends are together it is good, isn’t it?” asked Too-Small.
“Well, what happened?” asked Hookworm, “Were you caught like me?”
“No, “ said Too Small, “I was so happy to hear you were safe I pushed and pushed my self from the bottom of the lake and jumped above the water and was seen.”
“No, that isn’t what happened, “said Speedy, “I went snooping and heard that the both of you were trapped somewhere and in danger but not dead and I came back to tell everyone and we got caught!”
“We didn’t get caught until they saw my little head above the water! I was above the water and not on anyone’s back!”
Forgetful was already forgetting everything that was said and was now looking for the little round balls that smelled so good and wondered now how many turtles he had to share them with. He noticed that Hookworm had already eaten his fill the night before and didn’t say anything. He was glad there was another turtle to talk to but he couldn’t swim very far to look for more food. He was afraid there were too many turtles in here for such a little bit of food.
“I am hungry!” said Speedy and looked at Forgetful with both eyes looking up.
Soon, there was a little jar and a big finger tapping on the jar making the food balls rain down on top of all the turtles.
“Raining food!” yelled Too-small, “I think I am going to like it here.”
“But it is the same food,” answered Hookworm, “Everyday the same food at the same time. If you get hungry before the time they bring it, you just have to wait.”
“You mean I can’t have any little fuzzy moths anymore?” asked Too-small.
“And I can’t have any little water bugs?” asked Speedy.
The aquarium was becoming murky with all the turtles packed into the glass room, with the rocks and the waterfall. In order to get around the rocks, they found that they had to crawl over each other and turn sideways and sometimes even upside down to be able to reach the food or climb onto a rock.
“Don’t climb on that rock,” said Forgetful, “That is my rock. It has always been my rock! I got here first and the rock was mine when I got here.”
“Well he hasn’t forgot that,” snickered Speedy, “ looking at the big flat rock that was on top of all the other rocks in the tank.
“He has become real selfish since he has been here. He wouldn’t share his food or his space,” said Hookworm.
“This lake is just too small. Or, there are too many turtles in this lake. We need to find ourselves the place we can call our own space and let each of us know which place that is!” said Too-Small.
“You are right! But Forgetful already has his place so now we just have to find ours.” answered Speedy.
Chapter 7: Each one a place and a place for each one.
Too-Small found a little cavern under two bricks and a flat rock on top. He was just small enough to slide into that space.
Speedy found a place right behind where the waterfall came down and no one could see him because the water made a lot of bubbles.
Slow Poke discovered the corner where the food was dropped and found the edge of a flat rock to lay on. He giggled to himself that he wouldn’t be too slow during dinner time.
Hookworm found a place in front of the waterfall.
And believe it or not, Forgetful did remember to go to the tallest rock and sleep.
While Forgetful was climbing up on his roost, and stepping on top of Slowpoke to reach his goal, the flat rock that was holding Slowpoke fell and it fell right on top of the little space that Too-small had crawled into.
“Help me!” he yelled. He pulled his head out of the shell just a little to see that he was under a large rockslide. A brick was pinning down Hookworm in the back and on top of the heap was Forgetful, just looking around with his head poking just as far as he could out of the water, watching someone in the kitchen that didn’t look like the fisherman. It was someone with a high pitched voice and she ran so quickly to the tank that it scared Forgetful and he took a dive into the water, just to run into a sheet of glass with his reflection in it.
Rock by rock was removed and each turtle was put into one side of a sink. Now the turtles had been in a bucket but not a sink and the sink was silver and slippery. They each tried to climb up the side of the sink but as they climbed up one step, they would slide back two steps.
Then Speedy said, “ If we climb on top of each other, maybe one of us will make it to the top!”
That is just what they did! Speedy was the biggest so he got on the bottom, then Slowpoke on top of Speedy, and Hookworm on top of Slowpoke, Forgetful on top of Hookworm and last but not least…
Too-Small climbed from one turtle shell on top of another turtle shell and made it to the top of the sink. He pulled with all his strength to see what was on the other side and slipped in some water standing on the drain board and fell off the counter.
Quickly, he pulled all his legs, feet, tail and head into his shell, and he rolled onto the floor , under something that made a big noise and found himself covered in some kind of hairy material, food crumbs (which he tried but didn’t like) and dirt. Where he landed was dark and warm. He pulled his head out a little, to see if he was safe, and was looking right at a fuzzy creature with big ears and a long nose.
“Oh, dear, where am I?” he asked the fuzzy creature.
“ I am Maury the mouse and you are in my house, you are! My favorite house at that! And, I saw you steal some of my food, I did!”
“Only a crumb…”
“I collect crumbs! My house is real crummy. You don’t know when a lot of crumbs will come in handy. But you have such a small mouth, I guess you won’t hurt my stack of crumbs much.”
“I fell from somewhere. I need to find my family!”
“Oh, they are still there, all right! They can’t crawl out of a sink like I can. They can’t crawl into walls like I can. If they are small like you, they had better look out for that cat! He doesn’t come under here much…but he has. I missed being his lunch two times already.”
“How do I get back to the sink, is that what you call it?” Too-small didn’t want to hang around to see if the cat would be back to look for Maury the mouse. “You can’t get back into the sink. That shell on your back is too heavy. You have to wait until someone finds you and puts you back into the sink. They will, they did it before with one of your friends. They picked up the little shell and put him back into the tank.
“What tank and how did he fall out of it?”
“No, the cat got him. Lucky for him he could hide in the shell. If they get me, they will bite a hole right though me. Dear, dear!” Maury the mouse looked out from under the refrigerator where he had made his home, and said, “Coast is clear, you can just sit out on the floor and wait.”
“What if one of those fishermen step on me?”
“I don’t know what a fisherman is, but the one who cooks in here will be back soon with the tank clean, I bet. She is outside now fixing it.”
As soon as Maury the mouse said “it” the lady came in and saw Too-slow on the floor.
“Now, how did you get out of that big sink?” she asked and put him into the aquarium first. Then, each turtle was placed in there, one by one, to join him. The rocks were all different and there was room now to swim around the rocks and places between them where each turtle could sleep.
“There is still not enough room, or too many turtles!” they all could hear her say.
Right before the lights went out for the night, she brought over some flies in a little cup. Some were still wiggling and some were smashed apart. She dumped in the flies and each turtle grabbed for the one closest to them. That was a real good meal after a short disaster. Each one found a new place to sleep. They tucked in their arms, legs, tail and head (and of course their little feet) and went to sleep.
Chapter 8: A Life in a Tank
The five friends came to call it “the tank” like Maury the mouse did. The “tank” was next to the other “tank” where the goldfish lived. There were two pretty fish that glided around in a circle and a big black fish with bulging eyes that just hung out in one place. He was so big, he couldn’t move around much. Then there was this big yellow snail. All the turtles had seen snails before but not quite this big.
“I bet he eats the fish food and the algae,” said Forgetful, now always having food on his mind since he knew he had to share it with four others.
“No, then what would the Sucker fish eat?” Slowpoke was getting really smart, watching the other tank. He knew that the big fat fish were girls and the long skinny fish was a boy. There were two sucker fish. He knew they were called sucker fish because they would suck to the side of the tank and just hang there by their mouths. He knew that one sucker fish got bigger and bigger but the other one stayed close to the same size. The smaller one went into what was called a Castle and stayed there most of the time.
“I wish we had castles and plants and shells like the fish do,” said Hookworm, “We only have rocks and they fall every once in a while. It is a good thing that we have a shell on our bodies to protect us.”
“That snail has a big shell, too. But the fish look so soft! What if a rock fell on them?” asked Too-small.
“Have you seen how fast those fish move when they have to? Wow, no rock would touch them! They are faster than us!” Said Speedy, and he thought he was the fastest turtle in the world, or in the lake, or maybe in this tank. But there wasn’t any room to swim fast and he was going to end up like Slowpoke because he wouldn’t be able to practice swimming.
“I am going to be slow, too,” he said, “I wish we had more room. Too bad I had to go snooping.” he thought out loud. “And Forgetful didn’t even remember he was our brother!”
“Yeah! We did all this to find Forgetful and he didn’t even remember us!” said Slowpoke.
Forgetful wasn’t listening. He was watching a machine on the wall. It had little arms and he noticed one day that when the little arms were straight up and down, the food came.
The little arms were straight up and down now, and like ‘clockwork’ a bunch of the round pellets were thrown into the tank and four fat flies.
Speedy swam and swam to get a fly. Hookworm grabbed Speedy’s shell and pulled him back, swam over him and grabbed at the same fly. The fly was swimming as fast as he could when he saw the turtles fighting to get to him.
Slow poke decided to go the other way, and get one of the flies by surprising him from behind a rock. That fly was eaten before he could get to it by Too-Small who was still trying to get the entire fly into his mouth.
“That was my fly!” said Slow Poke.
“Well, it is in my stomach!” said Too-Small, “ You are just a slowpoke, ha ha!”
The third fly was still floating around and no one had noticed it. He pulled himself up on the highest rock and checked his wings. They were in pretty good shape. He checked his legs. They could still walk. That flyswatter really did a job on his head though…he kept seeing too many things through his eyes. He was able to see how he could escape. He flew up a little and discovered it was okay to try and fly higher. He flew higher, and as he did, a big mouth grabbed him in mid air. One of the cats had jumped up by the aquariums and ended that fly’s escape pattern. At the same time all the turtles heard the snapping noise of the cat and turned to focus on the cat. Someone had forgotten to put the piece of wood onto the top of the tank when it was re-organized. All the turtles forgot about the leftover fly, still swimming around, and hid under the little caverns that the girl fixed for them.
The cat, which looked even bigger on the other side of the glass, was watching them.
The cat thought that the turtles would have to come up for air, soon. But turtles can stay underwater for a long, long time without coming up for air, and they stayed under the water and well hidden until the cat left to go to sleep on top of the refrigerator. Only two turtles ate flies but the next day, there were more flies to eat. Every day the water seemed a little warmer in the tank, and everyday more flies were thrown into the tank for them. And, since there wasn’t much room to swim, and they were afraid to climb to the top of the rocks (maybe falling out like Too-Small did or getting picked up by a cat like Forgetful) they ate every day and started to grow in the small tank. The more they grew, the more trouble they had.
It was harder to get into the little caves where they slept. It was harder to not run into each other when they grabbed for the food. The tank was getting dirty and the tank had to be cleaned more often.
Chapter 9: A Great Adventure
Six months of living in the aquarium, following the routine at mealtime, and sleeping during the day( when all the activity was going on) was causing the five friends to stay quiet for the most part. They had run out of things to talk about, and had dreamed everyday about the lake. They missed their mamma, the algae, and all the other creatures even the bully-Stripers that lived there.
Then one day someone reached into the aquarium and pulled out Speedy, Slow-poke and Too-small. They were held in the hands of someone that was very big and when the back door opened to the yard, they were amazed at what they saw. The plants had scented flowers on them and strange little creatures with buzzing noises were flying above the flowers.
The big arm carried the three little turtles to a pond that was located in the back corner of the yard. There were plants poking their heads out of the pond and frogs making grunted noises and as they were set upon some rocks, several little black fish came up to each one.
“Who are you? We haven’t seen anyone like you! You smell funny! What is that on your back? Where are your fins and gills?”
One little black fish was asking question after question as the turtles eased into the pond water, which was a lot like the lake water but smaller. They saw the algae and rocks that didn’t move.
“Wow! A little lake!” said Speedy.
“Hey! Algae!” said Slowpoke.
“Hey! Look at me!” yelled Too-Small, as he climbed out of the pond onto a rock, up another rock, and out of the pond.
The other two turtles looked back and the person who brought them there was already back into the house to get the other two.
“Hide Too-small! Hide in the plants behind the rock you are on” Speedy said, in a sort of a whisper…not knowing if these little black fish were tattletales.
The big person had gone into the house to pick up Hookworm and Forgetful. When she brought the other two turtles out, she looked into the pond and saw two little heads poking out of the water.
“Do you like this better? Isn’t it bigger?” she asked, with a big smile on her face showing off huge teeth and a really long tongue. Her tongue was as long as a snake’s but fat!
Speedy and Slowpoke didn’t say anything because the person wasn’t supposed to know that turtles really can talk when no one is looking or listening.
She placed the other two turtles, all tucked into their shells, on rocks in the pond and sat on a big chair. The chair looked like the fishermen’s chair by the lake.
“Does she have hooks?” whispered Hookworm to Forgetful.
“I don’t think so, but lets look at what is here and have some of that delicious algae.” Hookworm was beginning to think like Forgetful when it came to mealtime. The light in the sky ( which the five turtles hadn’t seen in a long time) was such a welcome sight. They gazed at it for a long time, watched the big person go into the big house, and both dipped down into the pond to look at what was there.
Slowpoke noticed that there were hundreds of snails. They were little black ones, not like the big orange one in the big tank. There was a big plant that had roots all tangled up and lights running through the root-ball.
Too-small saw all the tiny black fish rush to the top of the pond, and nibbled on the mosquito larva there. They ate algae too and when Forgetful started to taste the delicious algae, a little black fish snuck up behind him and bit him on the tail.
“Ouch! Why did you do that?” Forgetful asked the little black fish.
“That is my algae you are eating. The algae belongs to the fish and the sails, not funny looking things like you and your friends! We were here first!
We have been here for a long time and each of us know which algae is ours! You can’t eat that!”
Then, Forgetful swam up to grab a little bug that had landed to get a drink, but had gotten caught in a spider web.
“Hey, you! That bug is mine. Can’t you see it is caught in my web? All the little winged bugs are mine and the other spider’s food! You can’t have that!” The spider was long, with long legs and was quickly winding the little flying bug up in silk to store it until the spider was hungry for that kind of bug.
Everyone forgot about Too-Small still hiding behind the rock on the outside of the pond. He looked around now that the big person was gone and noticed that there was a fence. The holes in the fence were large enough for even Speedy to climb through.
“Hey…(he half whispered), look here!” when he saw Slowpoke pull his head up above the water.
“Is it food?” asked Slowpoke.
“No! It is a way out of this place! Get the others!” Slowpoke was even slower, now since he hadn’t exercised in such a long time. He made his way to the open place in the fence and all he could see was tall, tall, grass.
Each turtle pulled himself out of the pond. The pond was pretty and it was really pretty under the water with a nice waterfall and pretty pond plants but the fish were rude. They were even bigger bullies than the Stripers. There was plenty of algae but they weren’t allowed to eat it. It belonged to the little black fish and the little black snails.
They heard some noise behind them, and saw the woman bring out the little cylinder of black pellets and pour a generous amount into the pond. They all ducked into their little shells and hid. It was so dark in the tall grass, no one would even know they were there. But, someone did see them and it wasn’t the woman. She was bent over the pond looking and looking for a little turtle head that she would never find.
After she went back into the house, the little turtles were now in a fix. They were hungry but didn’t want to go back to the pond to live with the mean fish, spiders and snails. They didn’t know now where to go.
“Let’s just go forward,” said Forgetful.
“Let’s go the other way, past the house!” said Slowpoke.
“ I know the lake can’t be too far, because it didn’t take us long to get here,” said Speedy.
“We weren’t walking, either,” reminded Hookworm.
As they discussed where they would go, they heard a noise in the back yard where the pond was. They looked that way, and saw a rather large white dog with a big creature in his mouth, shaking it and shaking it. He shook it so hard that he dropped it out of his mouth and it just lay there, still.
“Oops…” whispered Too-Small, “maybe my idea wasn’t such a good idea!”
The Five turtles watched as the dog sniffed the white fuzzy creature and went back though a big flap in the door they had once been behind.
“That big thing was with us in that place?” asked Forgetful.
“That is a dog, and you don’t remember it being there?” asked Hookworm, “ There are two dogs there. You are still so very forgetful. Two dogs, two cats, three big fish, two sucker fish, one big snail and us.”
“Not us anymore!” said Slowpoke. And as he spoke, he saw the white fuzzy creature get up and run through a hole in the fence just like the one they escaped through. All five turtles poked their legs, feet, tail and head into their protective shells.
“Ha ha!” they heard a laugh that was almost a jeer, “I can see you!”
Speedy poked out his head, just a little and saw a funny face looking at him. It had a long pointed nose and glassy eyes. It was every bit as big as a cat.
“Don’t worry about me! I don’t like turtle meat!” the jeering creature said.
“Who are you?” asked Too-Small, very quietly, shaking in his shell.
“Why, I am Odell the Opossum. I live near here under this building!”
“The big building where that monster came out of?” asked Forgetful.
“No, the little building , there!” and he pointed to a little shed where the door was open where all kinds of bags, fishing poles and bait buckets sat.
“Yikes” squeaked Hookworm touching his scarred face with his little foot.
“He he, don’t worry, I am not a fisherman. I just live under the little house. I have a ready made deal here. I can get food out of those big bags every night and never go hungry. Are you hungry?”
“Boy are we hungry!” said Forgetful, remembering he missed his 6:00 meal.
“Well then, come into my house!” said the opossum and they each crawled under the metal shed and saw loads of food. Mostly Odell the Opossum food. There was a group of pill bugs crawling around and they looked just like the pellets that were thrown into the aquarium. Forgetful grabbed one and ate it.
“Wow, these are good. Try them!”
All the little turtles started cleaning out the little pill bugs and Odell was so happy to be able to eat his hidden food without the pill bugs all over it.
“You should stay here with me and help me clean house everyday. You guys are great! Are you sure you don’t want a little stale bread or part of an orange?”
“No thank you,” said Speedy, “we are fine with these, but after we are full, maybe you would let us take a nap. We are on a long journey to the lake.”
“The lake? Why, the lake is all around us. You are on a piece of ground that sticks out into the lake. It is called a peninsula. So, no matter which way you go, you will find the lake. Just don’t follow that hard black road. That takes you away from the lake and there are big machines that will roll over you and squash you. It is that way!” and Odell the Opossum showed the boys which way not to go. Forgetful was so busy gulping down the little pill bugs, he thought that Odell the Opossum was pointing towards the lake instead.
Chapter 10: The Long Way Home
Morning wasn’t quiet as it had been for six months in the big house. Birds were busy making nests, bees were busy collecting nectar, and little tiny ants had started a trail to the collection of stale and moldy food that Odell the Opossum had in store for an empty stomach. All the little pill bugs were gone but Speedy was so excited about the trip they were taking, he was already outside, from under the little shed, looking for more.
Speedy was too fast for them and almost ate too many forgetting he had four friends that hadn’t had breakfast yet. Then he heard a voice.
.
“Oh dear,” the woman said, “they are all gone. All my little turtles are gone! What could have happened?”
Speedy quietly pulled himself under the shed and told everyone to be quiet. The Opossum was snoring quite loud, but that wasn’t a problem since turtles don’t snore, or if they do, no one has told one that he or she snores.
They snuck out when it was very, very dark that evening. They had to be very careful, crawling out in different directions. They thought that it would be better if they didn’t walk in a group since a group of turtles may be suspicious and they saw what the dog did to Odell the Opossum. Speedy was the first to leave. Too-Small didn’t even ask Speedy to carry him on Speedy’s back, because he knew they had to be hidden in the tall grass.
Speedy decided to go towards the left. He could hear dogs barking there, but he never saw one, so he didn’t think they were running loose. Opossum said that a dog’s nose was stronger than his eyes.
Hookworm decided to go the other way, because he saw a field where the grass looked real high and would keep him hid from predators. A predator is an animal that likes to eat other animals. Opossum wasn’t a predator. He just loved stale garbage.
Forgetful took the forbidden road. He didn’t walk right on top of the road but skirted it or walked beside it. Now and again, a car would drive by and almost blow him into something.
One time, a big truck flew by and blew him into a signpost. His body pulled inside his shell real quick and he just sort of bounced around in the grass until a small brick stopped him. When he looked up, a tall fisherman was looking back down at him. He hid again as the big hand picked him up.
Forgetful forgot about trying to escape and poked his head outside of his house and saw a very big face looking at him.
“Your going home, buddy.” said the face.
Forgetful was carried about fifty paces around the block and could hear a knocking sound on the door. No one answered the knocking sound so he was carried again to the back yard and placed right back into the pond.
“Oh me, oh me,” he thought and then noticed that the little pellets thrown in the night before were still floating in the water. He started to eat and he ate and ate until he got full, tucked his body into the shell, and fell to the bottom of the pond. Somehow, with a full belly and water, he felt safe. None of the fish or the snails said he couldn’t eat that food and no one said he couldn’t sleep where he landed. So, the night flew quickly for him and when he woke up, he didn’t think about the escape plan or his friends that tried to rescue him. All he thought about was sunbathing on a big rock that he was able to climb upon and didn’t worry about anything…just looked and smelled all the beautiful flowers.
Too-Small headed in another direction that was along side of the road but not in the dangerous direction.
Slowpoke lost sight of his friends pretty quickly because he tired easily. He was quite proud of himself, heading in the direction of the big house but not stopping, but going past it. From a distance, he saw the cats in front of the house playing in the trees, so he was very careful to walk in grass that was the color of his shell.
He passed up ant-beds with busy little creatures going in and out of a hole, carrying dead bugs. He wished he knew these creatures and could have talked them out of a bug but as he was thinking about it, he came across another nest of pill bugs and filled his belly. Ahead, there was another house, only smaller, and farther ahead was another house, only bigger. He trudged along, with his full belly and heavy shell until he came to a place where there was a field and no houses were there at all. After climbing on top of a huge rock, he could see the lake. It wasn’t close, but it was there and he was full of joy. He forgot about the others quickly and rested on the rock, protecting himself inside his shell. He was so happy!
Chapter 11: Slowpoke’s Narrow Escape
Shirley the Squirrel was collecting her winter nuts. It wasn’t winter yet, in fact it would be a long time before winter. She had been hiding them in an old abandoned car that was in a field full of dead trees and tall grass. As she collected nuts of all kinds, she saw a very large nut sitting on a rock. It was green and she dropped all the nuts she had in her hand and walked up to the biggest nut she had seen yet. She tried prying open the shell, wondering what kind of nut she found.
She took a pecan and banged the pecan on top of the shell two or three times and even found an old Walnut with a very hard shell on it and banged away, thinking she would open this monster shell and she would have a meal for the whole day.
Slowpoke felt something banging on his shell but was so sleepy, it was hard to open his eyes. When he did, he saw a strange animal who was as scared as he was, looking back at him. The squirrel screamed and ran up a tree. Then, watching as the turtle poked his arms and legs out of the shell, and his little head, she heard him say, “I am harmless. Please don’t be scared of me. I should be scared of you, since you tried to beat me up in my sleep.”
Shirley the squirrel came back down the tree, climbing upside down, which amazed Slowpoke.
“What are you?” she asked as she picked up one of her little acorn nuts and filled her mouth with it. “I am a turtle just trying to get home to the lake.” Slowpoke said, and as he did, Shirley grabbed him up, and scooted him into a small hole in the Pecan tree.
“Whew!” she said,” we were almost bird food!”
“What is a bird?” asked Slowpoke.
“Creatures that fly real high in the air and swoop down and grab you to eat!” Shirley said, grabbing a partially opened Pecan nut and eating it.
“Oh dear, oh dear. Now I have creatures trying to fly down to eat me, big creatures on the ground trying to eat me, and the people trying to hold me prisoner in a glass box!”
“Humm…sounds like you need a bodyguard! I know just the one, too.” said the squirrel with a mouth full of nuts.
“What is a bodyguard?” asked Slowpoke.
“Somebody to protect you from wild animals and keep you safe on your journey! Stay here. I will get your bodyguard in just a little bit. Help yourself to some nuts if you want!”
“What are nuts?” Slowpoke asked himself.
Chapter 12: Too-small Gets a Break.
Too Small was really getting weary. He looked for a safe place to rest and saw a rounded, bumpy looking rock lying under a large flowered bush. He slowly dragged his body to the rock and climbed up on top like the many times he climbed up on Speedy’s back. He fell right to sleep, not even tucking in his little body parts. He was still asleep when the big rounded, bumpy rock began to move.
Arnie the Armadillo didn’t know he had a passenger on his back. He just knew he was thirsty and there weren’t any puddles of water standing around, so he would have to trudge down to the lake. He was quite slow, but when he hit the brush he very noisy. He sounded like a Bear in the bushes and tall weeds. This didn’t wake up Too-Small because he was dreaming about riding on Speedy’s back in the water. It seemed so real with the movement. Arnie wasn’t going too fast or too slow but just right for Too-Small. Throughout the night he felt himself being moved until it occurred to him that he could actually smell the lake. The smell of the lake and the smell of fish all around startled him in his sleep and he woke up.
There it was! The rock was not a rock at all but a funny looking creature that had a long snout like a Garfish and a shell like a turtle. He slid off the side of his transportation (and didn’t even thank him) and scooted towards the water as quickly as he could. He was home at last, or he thought.
Under the water was sand and not rock. There were shells but small ones, not the big ones he had seen before. It was the same kind of water but not the same place. He swam and swam out deeper and did see old turtles, but not young ones. He could see the lost hooks and lines on the bottom of the lake. He saw ghost minnows swimming in schools around him but not the big Catfish .
Too-small was scared. Maybe this wasn’t the same lake. Maybe he was all alone and the others were at the right lake. Maybe he would be here all alone forever and look like those old turtles with their big heads looking out of the water right at his little face.
He turned and saw that Arnie the Armadillo was gone. He was slow but he sure was steady. As Too-small looked around, everything looked strange to him. There was no dock and no fishermen. He did spot some water bugs and ate them for the first time in a long time and was real happy for that. He tucked himself into his shell, went to sleep, and floated to the bottom of the water. He tried to gather his thoughts together. Maybe this was the lake but not where he grew up. That was it…there was more lake somewhere and he would find all his friends and family there. He slept.
Chapter 13: Hookworm
While Slowpoke was in the nut room, and Forgetful was back in the pond enjoying his moon bathing, and Too-small was riding on the back of the Armadillo bareback, Hookworm had gotten lost in this big field of hay. It smelled like hay everywhere and once in a while, he would stumble upon an ant bed. He learned what that meant! He was stung from his toes to the top of his legs by ants.
“First, I am scarred up by fish hooks because I am so stupid, then stung by creatures I can balance on my smallest toe. How stupid I am, how stupid!”
As he muttered to himself over and over, he heard a voice behind him.
“Don’t walk on the ground, walk in the trees or on the wire!”
Hookworm turned his head and discovered a big face with black rings around his eyes. He had a long fuzzy striped tail and was sniffing Hookworm close to his face.
“My you are big!” said Hookworm when he saw the big raccoon.
“Well, you don’t see ant bites on me, do you? My name is Randy Raccoon and I live up there!”
Hookworm looked up and saw a very tall tree.
“I live in the lake and if I ever stop being lost, I will go back home!” he answered Randy Raccoon.
“ I like to go to the lake sometimes and fish!” Said Randy.
“You fish? Yikes! That is how I got here. A fisherman grabbed me and took me away from my home.”
“Ho Hum!” said the raccoon, “ that is what fishermen are famous for, fishing. But you aren’t a fish, and I don’t eat things with strong shells. Do you want me to take you home?”
“Can you? Really?” Hookworm’s heart was thumping so hard, he thought he would pop.
“Grab me and hang on!” said Randy Raccoon. He climbed up a tree and as Hookworm grabbed as hard as he could, he could see himself high above the road, high above the houses, and high above the dogs and the cats. He was swinging from branch to branch until he saw in the distance the lake. His wonderful lake. Randy came down off of the tall tree he was on last and picked up Hookworm in his mouth and scampered to the lake. Hookworm looked at his new friend with wide eyes and thanked him so many times that he was still thanking him after Randy the raccoon had eaten several fish and two little sand crabs, and was well on his way back to the trees.
The bank was littered with trash, cans and bottles. Many pieces of broken glass were on the ground and Hookworm didn’t want more scars, especially on top of the ant bites all over his feet. He tip toed down to the water and went in. It smelled like the lake, and he saw the algae on the rocks under the water but no sign of turtles anywhere.
“Oh dear,” he thought, “ what if this is a different lake and I am all alone? What if the others made it home and I never see them again? He went under the water and as he looked up , he saw some little flies playing in the water. He filled his belly with them, tucked everything into his shell and fell asleep. “Oh my, I flew in the air,” he thought as dreams of the pond, the aquarium and his old friends swept him to sleep.
Chapter 14: Speedy Slows Down
Speedy somehow knew something was wrong. He knew someone would reach the lake because of what Odell the Opossum said. But, something was still wrong. He knew those pill bugs were everywhere and he wouldn’t go hungry. He knew that he was near the lake because there was a feeling he had but there was still something wrong. He decided before going on his journey, he would go back to the big house and inspect it. He just had this feeling.
When he crawled though the hole in the fence and crept quietly to the pond, he saw what was wrong.
There was Forgetful, forgetting what he was supposed to be doing. He was standing on top of the tallest rock, looking around, happily and completely forgetting how he got there.
“Hey, Forgetful…” Speedy kind of whispered. He said it loud enough so that his friend would hear him.
“Who are you?” asked Forgetful.
“It is me, Speedy! Don’t you know you are supposed to be with the rest of us, going back home?”
“I am home, aren’t I?” he asked, looking around at the pretty flowers and ivy that grew around the pond.
“No, you aren’t home. You need to come with me. There is more to see than the water you are in!”
Forgetful crawled out of the pond and followed Speedy through the fence. He followed him down the grassy paths for a long time. Speedy showed him the little pill bugs and he ate them. He followed until he didn’t know where he was and just watched the other turtle in front of him. Sometimes he imagined the other turtle was the Opossum. Sometimes he imagined the other turtle was a cat. He still followed him and when they both were too tired to walk, they found a rock and crawled under it to sleep. Then, something terrible happened.
Someone else had found the rock first and had a long skinny body and the end of the tail began to rattle and make such a scary noise.
“Who are you and what are you doing in my house?” asked Stanley the Snake.
“We are so sorry, we just wanted to find a place to sleep on the way to the lake.”
“A place to sleep in my house? Ho, ho! I eat delicious little turtles when I can, but tonight you are lucky! I found a tasty rat and he is still keeping me full so I won’t need to eat you.” Stanley the Snake was all coiled up and the two turtles, Forgetful and Speedy could see the shape of the rat inside the snake, slowly moving down into the middle of his body.
Speedy said, “We will leave you to your tasty rat, and be on our way.”
“Go ahead and take a nap, if you wish…you are so brave, I will let you sleep here for the night. No one comes in here because everyone is afraid of a Rattlesnake. Good night now!”
They all fell asleep. Speedy tried to keep one eye open in case the rat filled up the snake and the snake was hungry again, but it didn’t happen.
Chapter 15: The Bodyguard
Slowpoke was in a deep sleep when Shirley came back with his bodyguard. She shook him, thinking that would wake him up but it didn’t. Slowpoke was so used to the water moving him around and other turtles falling on him in the tank, he still slept.
“Wake up, turtle!” Shirley the Squirrel said loud enough to make some of the nuts settle down into the tree.
Slowpoke woke up and he noticed he was high in the air, inside a hole full of little rock looking things. “Where am I,” he asked.
“You are safe with me! Hop on my back and I will take you down to meet your bodyguard.
Sleepily, Slowpoke climbed on the squirrel’s back and clung on tight as she turned upside down, and ran down the tree. It was a full moon now and the nighttime lit up like the light under the dock water that he missed so much.
He got off her back as soon as he landed on the ground and saw a large fuzzy creature that was black and had a white stripe down his back.
“Who are you?” asked Slowpoke, “a cat?”
“Why, yes! A Polecat! I am Smelly the Skunk! And I am pleased to walk with you to the lake. No one will bother you with me here!”
“See?” said Shirley the Squirrel, “I told you I would find you a bodyguard!”
“How come no one bothers you?” asked Slowpoke.
“That is a secret. You just hope no one tries to bother us! Are you ready?”
Smelly helped Slowpoke onto his back and began a waddle. Smelly was slower than Slowpoke, and Slowpoke laughed to himself that he wasn’t the slowest creature around.
The waddle was so comfortable, he just fell asleep on the soft fur of the skunk. Before long, he could smell the lake. He went back to sleep and when he woke up, thinking it was all a dream, he was lying on a rock with Speedy and Forgetful sneaking up behind him.
“Surprise!” They yelled at the top of their turtle voices.
“We slept with a snake that eats turtles!” yelled Forgetful.
“Wow! You remembered!” said Speedy.
“I rode on the back of a skunk called Smelly!” Slowpoke said, “where are the others?”
All three turtles looked towards the water. From one direction, they saw Too-small, swimming like he was a big turtle. From the other direction, they saw Hookworm swimming and steering clear of two fisherman on the bank. “ No more worms for me,” he was thinking.
They all met in the cove, and had many tales to tell each other. They could see now that the lake was very big, and even though they each found part of the lake, they were home, together and even had made friends on the way.
The five brothers and best friends found a safe place under the water to rest for the day and when one woke up, he woke the others. They started swimming out into the lake. Once in a while, they would paddle themselves up and see where they were.
“Look! There is the dock and the fishermen!” said Speedy.
“We don’t want to go back there, do we?” asked Hookworm, feeling his lower lip.
To the right of the dock, there were some rocks all in a circle. Black round rocks, and that is where they headed. They swam and swam until they were far away from the fishermen and saw something they never knew was there.
These weren’t rocks after all. They were tires. Huge tires from big trucks and they were all chained together. On top of the rocks were hundreds of turtles, sunbathing or moon bathing…but there, all the same. Almost every tire was full and some of the turtles were resting on the chains. All five friends swam under the chains and found a tire that wasn’t too crowded. There was just enough room for five more turtles.
They each pulled and pulled themselves up until they were on top of this tire.
On top of this same tire was Mamma. They were so glad to see her.
“Did you miss us?” asked Speedy.
“I thought someone was missing, Sweetie, but I couldn’t really be sure.
“I am sure glad to be home again!” said Speedy, happy that there was a lot of water to swim in.
“I am also so glad to be home!” said Hookworm,” I didn’t know our lake has different places to go and different things to see!”
“ I am going to try not to forget where I am and enjoy it!” said Forgetful.
“I don’t care if Mamma remembers me, I remember her!” said Too-Small.
“And, we can swim somewhere, where there aren’t too many turtles!” said Slowpoke,
“ …and eat all we want!”
“We just didn’t know how great our home really was,” said Speedy, looking at the beautiful lake.
“Yes, Sweetie,” said Mamma, “ but there are just too many turtles!”
The End
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I think this is either a little too long or not written old enough depending on how young an audience you were aiming at. The characters are well done and the plot is relatively straight forward, although I think younger children will be confused by the non-linear narrative. There are some nice touches and good description. Some of the dialogue is a little stilted, even for a children’s book, but most of it is very good. There are a few typos and grammar problems that detract from the piece.
Some things I noticed while reading:
“other kinds of fish”—you’ve already mentioned Carp and Perch.
“Three of the turtles named Hookworm” needs a comma or you’re saying there are many turtles named Hookworm of which here are three.
I like the mouse.
“snickered Speedy, ” looking” doesn’t need the quote in there.
“the person wasn’t supposed to know that turtles really can talk when no one is looking or listening”—hee! Nice line!
“missed his 6:00 meal”—six o’clock would work better.
“Your going” should be “You’re going”.
“in case the rat filled up the snake and the snake was hungry again” doesn’t quite make sense.
Aww! The last line is cute! And quite fitting.
I’ve never actually seen Finding Nemo, so I can’t comment on that. I enjoyed this quite a bit. It needs tidying up in places but it’s a solid enough tale, a little moral but not heavily preachy as childrens things can often be. I think with a little editing it would perfect to be read to (or with) younger children or, with a bit more depth, suitable for the eight to ten year olds. Overall, a good piece of work!
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