A Little Lost Soul

    It was 3 P.M. already. It rained the whole day. The clouds started to scatter up, revealing a little bit of the blue sky and the warm sun. I grabbed my camera and backpack, and I headed straight to the car, not looking back once. As I opened the front door with excitement, the little bird who had made her nest on our porch, and laid some eggs, dashed out of her nest, leaving me in awe, trying to realize what just happened. I thought to myself that the bird and nest were great material for one of my future blog articles.

    Before I got in the car, I put my backpack and camera in the trunk. My dad had already warmed up the engine and cooled up the car. It was 20 degrees outside, so I wore a short sleeve shirt and shorts. The plan was to go to the Cattus Island park, which was an hour and forty minute drive from our house. But I suggested that we might as well stop at the Duke Island park, which was only fifteen minutes from our house.

    When we got to Duke Island park, I jumped out of the car, and grabbed my camera from the trunk. As I was putting my mask on, I unintentionally looked down. There, I saw a little dome-shaped thing that was covered in mud. I reached down to grab it, and when I flipped it upside-down, I was surprised to see an extremely tiny turtle! I could not believe it! I was still wondering why the tiny turtle had so much dirt on its back. Then I looked around. The river was about 25 yards from the parking lot. How could the turtle have made its way from the river, all the way to our car? Then I remembered that it rained that morning. The turtle must have gotten confused, and followed the rain instead of staying in the river. That was the only way the turtle could have traveled so far. It was probably dying of thirst by now. Its skin was as dry as sand. I even thought it was dead at first. 

    Luckily, in the trunk of the car, that was still open, was a decently large shell, that I thought I could put water in from the river, so the turtle could get both refreshed, and drink some of it. I hurried to the river as fast as I could with the shell. I fully dipped it in the water, as I knew that I was going to drop half of the water on my way back. When I got to the car, I quickly put the dried-up turtle in. I left it there for a while, until I saw a little head come out. Then the arms, and the legs. It was alive! I had saved the little buddy. I could see the turtle opening its mouth and drinking some water. I thought of leaving it back in the river, but I thought I'd give it the care it needs at home, in my aquarium. Anyway, the turtle would have most likely died if I left it in the river, since it was so small and vulnerable and in such a bad shape. I wouldn't even be surprised if a big fish swallowed it up. 

    After leaving it in the shell water for a while, I took it back in my hands, and got with it in the car. Before that, though, I looked around the car to see if I could find some more little turtles. I thought that if there was one, there ought to be more. But, luckily there were none. We were almost halfway home when I realized that the turtle would need some food as well to live. I told my dad to stop at the nearest pet store, and buy some turtle food. When we got home, the first thing I did was empty the rocks from the old fish aquarium. Then I washed the aquarium a bit, to make sure there was no debris left in it. Then I filled it up with filtered water just a little bit, as much as to cover the turtle. I did not fill the tank completely since turtles are not like fish. They need to breathe fresh air from outside, and not just that in the water. 

    Now it was time to add the final touches to the aquarium. I grabbed a flat stick and a rock from outside and put them in the water. I put the rock on the stick so it would hold it down. And lastly, I added some fish tank decorations. It looked great. Even the turtle seemed more happier, swimming with joy in the water. I sprinkled some food bits in as well. I gave it about four hours for the turtle to settle in, until I came back from the Cattus Island park. When I looked in the aquarium, almost all of the food crumbs were gone. The turtle had grown accustomed to its surroundings by now. I am proud that I could save a little animal's life today. I will take good care of it until we leave for Romania in the summer. Then I will let it go into the wilderness again. But until then, I will cherish every moment I will have with my new pet. 

    *I also tried comparing the turtle to a 25 cent coin. I was shocked at how small it was!*