Chapter Four
It was early June, after the spring rains had fallen. The children lifted the cardboard box filled with turtles and placed it on Michael’s wagon. With Dad’s help, they took the turtles from the front of the house to the backyard where they had made the new turtle home. They placed each turtle into the turtle pen. Tracy ran into the pond. It would become his favorite place to rest. Old Timothy slowly walked to the far end of the pen; maybe so he could see his new surroundings. Tiny ran to a space under the log. A few of the turtles remained in the sunny part of the pen. Others hid in tufts of grass. Each turtle seemed to find a comfortable place to settle in.
It was a thrilling moment to see so many animals discovering their new home. “Let’s feed them,” Katie shouted with excitement. “OK”, said Dad. “Go get the earthworms, some lettuce, and a banana.”
Michael and Katie ran to the kitchen. Like chefs in a fancy restaurant, they prepared a meal for the turtles; a meal of lettuce, kale, banana, tomatoes and worms that were bought at a bait shop. They placed them on a large plate and carried it to the backyard. They placed each food in the middle of the pen. Before all the different foods were placed on the ground, Tracy was already pulling himself out of the pond and heading for the feast. He arrived there first and began to chew off chunks of kale with his beak. Other turtles lifted their heads high out of their shell to smell the food. They also began to move close to the food to eat. Tracy saw them coming and as if there was not enough food to go around, grabbed a large leaf of kale and wondered off towards the pond. With Tracy now gorging himself in the heat of the day, the other turtles also bit into the banana, the lettuce, and tomatoes. Some had to chase the worms as they squiggled to get out of the sun. In a very short time, the food was gone, the turtles had retreated to their spaces and only scraps were left.
“They love it here”, said Michael.
“It seems they do”, said Dad. “I suppose it is much simpler to eat food when you don’t have to hunt for it.”
“Let’s feed them again,” said Katie.
“Well, let’s see how hungry they are tomorrow,” said Dad. “Then we will know just how much food they will need each day.”