"Hello" said the turtle, the look of shock dissipating from his face, carrying that abject object of wanting to be alone, but knowing now he wasn't.
That is when shock set in on you, who had spied him close, and you shook your head as your eyes were widely open......and your ears must have been affected by the noise of the day, because, you could of sworn, that turtle said...
"Hello" quietly, "I must be moving onward now, over this way," his head pointing to the right, "It really is the way I was going." His red eyes glowed.
You suddenly realize your knees and your feet are on the ground, your palms flat against the surface of the grass, everyone else is at least ten steps away. You quickly look around at them, the turtle looks at you, you want to scream "Come Here!" You don't want to frighten the turtle, you don't want to frighten yourself anymore than you already are, you realize your breath has stopped, your heart is beating so fast and so loud, your body is caught between a visible shake and a sudden death stop.
"Goodbye" he spoke again, " I must be moving on." His right foot pulled down, his head ducked and his entire little half round body turned as his feet and tiny claws at the end of his scaled legs gripped the grass and he made his escape to the bushes.
You breathed. Heavy. Deeply. You felt the shock of the moment with the turtle, along with a million other thoughts you couldn't quite put into a rhythm of a clear one, and you realized, "No, it couldn't have talked, it couldn't have." And you knew, you couldn't tell.
Ralph Peck
Photo by Marla Bolton
Eufaula, Oklahoma
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