I've never had turtle soup before. Never even thought about eating a turtle. Maybe joked about it in a blog about a turtle soup. See what happens when you joke about things? This big guy or girl (not sure how you tell the sex of a turtle) was hoofing it across the drive-way when I went out to get the mail. It was about eight feet from the road when I ran back for my camera. As you can see, it was not afraid of me at all because it didn't retreat to it's shell like other turtles I've tried to photograph.
Just to give you an idea of how big it was, the claws on it were as long as my pinky finger, maybe longer, which is about 2½ inches long. Well, I was certain it was going to cross the road, and this road is unforgiving. I grabbed a stick and started pushing it along. Made it to the center line, this all the while traffic is coming, and I'm running out of the road as to not get hit. The traffic was pretty good at first, going around the turtle not to hit it.
The next round of helping it along didn't go so well. A truck came and drove right over the top of the turtle, cleared it completely, but scared the be-geesus out of it I'm sure.
I went to give it another boost with the stick, and it surprised me with a giagantic jump and open mouth towards my hand, leg, foot, most likely whatever it could get those big jaws around. That time the poor thing had turned around, and was in the middle of the road. Traffic was coming and I had no choice but to leave it. I couldn't bare the thought of seeing it get mashed into the pavement, so I headed back to my house. A few minutes later I heard a car smack it. There were no cars coming in the other direction so I know it was purposeful. Hurt my heart. I couldn't bare the thought of going back to look. But then, a van stopped and two men jumped out.
I ran across the lawn and yelled, "Did it make it?"
By then one of the men, a big man with a healthy appetite, had the turtle by it's tail and was hauling it towards the van. "Nope, didn't make it. You gotta box?"
"Awwe, I think someone hit it on purpose. Hold on, I'll get a box."
At that time I didn't know why he wanted the box. Me in my little fairy-tale land that I live in most days, led me to believe he was being a good citizen and was going to take the poor thing home to give it a good burial, or something like that. I finally found a box, figuring it would hold the turtle until he got home with it. When I brought it down to the men, I noticed the turtle was still alive because he was moving and there was only a little bit of blood on the top of his shell and front foot.
"Oh, maybe he'll be okay," I said as I handed the box to the skinny younger man.
The big man says, "Oh he'll be fine. Long's we get him cleaned out tonight, he'll be good eatin'"
"Oh, okay, have a nice day."
What else could I say? The turtle was just minding his own business and now he's supper.
© Crackerberries 2014
