My New Animal Friend

I found or was found by a box turtle when I was a child. He or she happened to be on our property. My love for animals had been with me for as far back as I could remember. Curiosity and enjoying having animals prompted me to take care of this new animal friend for at least the summer. As long as I let the turtle go early enough to find a place to stay for the winter all should be well. Slowly we got to know each other I was able to examine this turtle and found a chip on the underside of the shell. To this day I can still picture this chip, yet the memory of it’s exact location is not clear. I am positive that if I were able to see Timmy again, The memory of the details of that unmistakable chip would come alive very quickly.

When it was time to let Timmy go for the winter, I said farewell till we meet again or something like that, unaware of what I would find come next spring. Spring sprung and to my surprise I found Timmy on our property. I was thrilled and very happy to know this turtle was alright. We had our usual summer together and I let Timmy go again.

Our usual summer together consisted of me feeding Timmy vegetables, earth worms, and occasionally bugs that I was able to catch. We would often spend time hanging out side by side as I observed the eating process, digging in the dirt, or crawling under cardboard. Of course Being slow, when allowed out of the box Timmy enjoyed slowly moving around hunting and exploring. Someone suggested placing a paint mark on the shell or drilling 2 small holes into the shell for a string, but I thought this was unnatural and cruel, so that never happened.

For many, many years history repeated it’s self. Then one spring after a lot of building occurred within the past year, After looking for my friend for days and weeks, Timmy was no where o be found. I even looked beyond our property just in case this turtle might to having difficulty getting back to me.. I have no idea what happened. My mother suggested perhaps things got so mixed up and changed so much that Timmy wasn’t able to find our place any more. I still have the memories of this fine and wonderful creature who blessed my spring and summer days.

word count: 416