Hello, I'm Bob, a Red Slider, living with the Johnstons. I was dropped off by my owner to this kind family. Everything was going just fine. The boy of the family loved me! He fed me all the time, always asking how I was doing. "How you doing Bob? You hungry Bob? Bob, you look so handsome. Hey Boooobbbb!!!"
Yeah, he was an annoying kid, but a kind one. When I was settled into my tank on the kitchen table, SHE came down. Right when I saw her, I knew it was trouble. It was the mother of the family. She took one look at me and then sent a look that could kill, to the tallest, kindest guy. Who I presumed is their dad. He right away explained that they weren't going to keep me. They would find a home for me. Yeah, he left real quick. There was 4 girls in the family, they didn't really pay any attention to me. Well, the littlest one did. She would wait till her brother went out to milk the cows to feed me.
Life was good. I was being fed on the hour, warm water, someone to talk to, and plus I got my shell brushed every so often! It was like turtle heaven. Then it happened.
I noticed that the family was in a frenzy one morning. They were running around like chickens with their heads chopped off. It was crazy! Then they ran out the door and left. I thought it was strange so I climbed on top of my rock to look at the calendar next to the fridge. I stretched my neck to try to read the calendar. "This family is nuts," I thought to myself. "I thought it was April, but this says it's March, how hard is it to flip the page on a calendar! I bet even a turtle like me could do it!"
I was sitting on my rock grumbling when a cold burst of wind came. I dove back into the water and looked at the door. "Maybe they came back." I was hoping, I could have really gone for a mealworm right then. But what I saw was not the family, I didn't know what it was. There was two of these furry black and white beasts. I hunkered down in the water listening to them.
"Aww, Missy you got the door open! I wish I could do it like that, you're so smart and talented and purty!" The biggest one said. Missy looked at her companion , "You do know how to do it you big lug! And of course I'm smart, talented, and pretty! I'm Jerry's favorite. I get the cows out of the barn for him, I ride in the tractor with him, I am always there, while you are sitting in the way, drinking milk and thinking about butterflies!" Buddy looks at her with a goofy grin with his tongue hanging out, " Yeah, that's all true! But, I can't help but think about butterflies, there so much fun to chase! "
Missy rolls her eyes and walks into the living room, "Hmmm, they're not in here. Buddy, you check upstairs. I want to make sure that they are gone."
Buddy looks up from chewing on a box, "Yes ma'am!" And he ran upstairs tripping all the way.
Missy looks around the sink, looking for the slop bucket.
I'm being quiet, because so far they haven't noticed me. I noticed one thing though. The little one called Missy is the brains, while the bigger one that she called Buddy was really lost in the head.
I heard Buddy falling down the steps and land with a thud! "Hehehee, opps." He sheepishly commented as he righted himself on all four feet. Missy walks up to him. "Sooo, did you find anyone?" "Not one person, Missy, though I did find the cutest looking stuffed animal of a dog! He was so cute, I wanted to bring him down so you could look at him, but you know how it goes, me and my.." "ENOUGH Buddy! I really don't care about a stuffed animal!" Missy huffs and walks back towards the kitchen.
Buddy walked up to my tank and sat and stared at me. I tried not to move. I was so scared. "Missy, look at the new pet they have! Isn't he cute!? " Missy glances over her shoulder, "Yeah, he's real cute Buddy, real cute."
Next thing I know, Buddy hops on the chair next to the table and puts his big face into my tank.
"Why, hi there cute little turtle, you want to play? You look lonely. Let's play!"
In my tiny little brain I was thinking, "No, lets not play, Bob doesn't want to play, Bob doesn't know how to play!" Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice in the matter. Buddy opened up the huge jaws of his and picked me up out of my beautiful tank.
He then proceeded to bite at my lovely shell that was just polished and pushed me around the living room, growling. "You having fun turtle!? I am! I've never played with a turtled before! This is great fun!" After saying that with a goofy grin on his face, he licked my shell and went to lay down.
Missy became curious about what Buddy was playing with, so she walked in and about had a heart attack. "Buddy!! What did you do!?!?!" She looked at my beat up shell and then at Buddy. "Why in the world did you take the turtle out!? Jerry is going to be soooooo mad!!!!" Buddy looked up sleepily, "He wanted to play." Missy rolled her eyes, and calmed the anger that was rising. "I bet he did, you're lucky that I'm here!"
Missy walked up to the turtle and pushed him under the couch. " There, they'll never know." Missy's ears pricked up, " There home!!!!!! Run!!" Missy bolted out of the house, Buddy slowly followed. And me, I'm under a couch with cobwebs and who knows what...hoping that they will find me. I heard voices, panic filled noises, then nothing. Hours went by and nothing. I got tired and it got dark. I decided I would make the best of the situation. I had a long, cold nap. Morning finally came and I heard people, I crawled as fast as I could, after hours of crawling I made it out from under the couch. I sat there resting and waiting, finally the littlest one noticed me.
Now, I am back in my beautiful tank with food every hour and a story to tell.
So this really did happen. Well, parts of it did. Yes, we got a turtle, yes, he went missing and yes, we found him. When we go home from church we found the house door open and a dog walking out. Then when we found poor Bob, his shell was pretty beat up. So, this is how I think it happened. :)
Coming soon will be another farm update!
Thanks for reading!
Grace