When she walked in the room, I knew this would be a tough negotiation. We both wanted the object in her hand, but her eyes were telling me I was going home empty handed.
Still, I had to try.
The thing, so tiny, so perfect ... like a diamond only bigger, differently shaped, not pure carbon, not crystalline, not transparent, not inanimate ... okay, maybe not literally like a diamond.
Precious though.
Precious like a diamond.
She wanted to know what it was, what it ate, how should she care for it ...
I answered all of these questions gently, but always with a ... "You can give it to me, I'll take care of it here in the classroom where you could come visit it."
Her eyes turned steely.
She wasn't going to bite.
How could she defeat me?
It's elementary my dear Watson.
In the end, I gave in to my opponent, a sweet fifth grade girl, smaller than my Labrador BEAR.
One of the benefits of working at a unique, wonderfully tiny school like Cedar Key School isthe fact that we are pre-K through 12th grade, so you have contact with kids of all ages.
And when you are the science teacher ... they bring you stuff... cool stuff like the baby Florida box turtle below.
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| You can see why I made a determined effort to become the owner of this little bit of Chelonian charisma. |
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| In the end, this little boxer went home with the young lady who found it, along with as much box turtle care advice as I could throw at her in our brief meeting. I'm hoping she will drop in on me again with an update and maybe, just maybe, ... on "show and tell" day in her class ... bring him by for a visit. I can hope. 'Cause you know ... "Hope springs Eturtle". (seriously, I slay myself sometimes) |
10 comments:
Hope springs eturtle. Really, FC? That's where you're going with this?
Kidding. You slay me too.
Cute turtle.
what a cutie! my Florida box turtles liked Spam cut in the shape of a worm - and canteloupe.
It's a good sign she cared enough to bring this little turtle to you for advice on its care. I hope you got her telephone number, email, and address for follow-up!
That is so cute! I wonder how she found something so tiny? She should make you its godfather!
Momadness
eturtle! Oy vey!
Now that we've had a LOT of big pines harvested, I'm hoping our gophers will return. I see them down the road once in a blue moon.
Dunno if you caught my thinly veiled invite to poop over to my slowly re-emerging page. I posted a pic that I'm pretty sure you had something to do with. (So glad you're not a grammar teacher, lol!)
DIP
Oh, good grief! Please don't poop over... just pop; datil do just fine, thanks.
I found one about that size a while ago, and I can certainly understand why someone would want one of their very own. But I let "mine" go on about his little turtle business.
Mark,
That is usually the best thing.
Sophie,
So glad you are back in the blogosphere. I will drop in.
Robin,
Good idea! The small size of our school makes running into this young lady very probable. I should be able to check on the turtle's progress on a regular basis.
Mommadness,
Under a flower pot that her grandfather moved. Probably hunkered down for the winter.
Marge,
I will share that spam recipe with the little girl when I cross paths!
Thanks!
Miz S,
Oh I love a decent pun.
I have a feeling this turkle will come to you eventually. OMG. That tiny, and that ornate. Arrrrghhh. Crippling. Having headstarted and released quite a handful of these things, I have the strong desire to walk the other way when handed another. It's a 3-4 year commitment for each one, and I'm ready to be out from under it. A feeble attempt to streamline here...but then you get sucked in again.
Seriously? You slay yourself? I thought it was it was more of the nerdiness in you! :)
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