My friend screamed, "Oh Yertle! Don't get squished!" and whipped around at the nearest spot. I was shoving my feet back into my shoes and she was yelping each time a car zoomed past or over Yertle.
I stumbled out of the car before it had fully stopped and was running across the median with my heels hanging over the backs of my shoes. My friend yelled after me, "Is he squished? I can't handle it if he's squished!" Two more cars and a couple of honked horns later, I had Yertle in hand, unharmed.
We didn't want to just leave him right off the highway because we thought he might come right back, so we talked about taking him home to a pond (we had one picked out and everything), but I didn't want to separate him from his turtle family. Who knows who he was headed across the highway to see? Myrtle maybe?
As my friend and I discussed the options, Yertle jerked his head back and snapped at me. If only he could walk that fast.
He was not the sweet grandpa-looking kind of turtle. He could have done some serious damage to my finger (I know because I looked it up).
I didn't blame him (it's his snapping-turtle nature after all) but I did almost drop him. And then I noticed his claws. Serious claws. They never include those on the cartoons.
"Help, Lj. He tried to bite me. He's scared. I'm scared. Help."
I took him as far as the fence would let me go while planning my quick escape from his powerful jaws. And then I set him down and ran...from the turtle.
Here's another crazy turtle woman:
2 comments:
So, I'm curious about something. In the end you say here's "another" crazy turtle woman. Does that make YOU or LJ the first crazy turtle woman?
And LJ has to SERIOUSLY be one of the funniest people I have ever met! For her to simply shout out "YERTLE!" as if her were already named and she just knew him...HAHA!
Lastly, I admire your bravery. Curious though, would you have done the same thing for a rat?
Who is the original crazy turtle lady? That's for you to decide, but bear in mind, the semantics of the sentence leave room for it to be both of us.
The entire experience was very serious. Only after Yertle was safely across the highway and we were pulling away did we start laughing at ourselves.
A rat? For so many reasons, no. We did come across a snake later in the drive and it was the same answer then. It was a moot point though, he was beyond savable.
On a separate note, I have been picking burrs (from the median jungle) out of my shoes all day today.
Post a Comment