Yesterday in the paper I read a story about a Misssissippi map turtle named Charlie who had made friends with the family he lived with. This took me back to memories of a Georgia box turtle who once lived in our house.
One Chrstmas my eight year old son Donovan announced after he had opened his presents that there was something missing. He wanted a pet. The next day we went to a pet store so he could pick out one that caught his fancy.
Donovan wandered among the pets for a while until he made his choice, a Georgia box turtle with one gimpy leg that he named Alfalfa. Alfalfa liked to be taken outside to walk in the grass, as Charlie did. And also periodically got lost, like Charlie. Usually I was the one to find him.
We had to learn Alfalfa’s ways as he made his home with us. We used the top of a round Playskool tinkertoy box as his water bowl. It had a raised circular lip that was the right height for Alfalfa to stretch his neck out to drink. Since we did not keep him penned up, he had the run of the house. When he was thirsty, Alfalfa made his way to the kitchen where we kept his bowl on the floor near the sink. Then he waited for one of us to come put water in it for him.
poetrybyheart.me 
So… what happened to Alfalfa?
And I love that you let him have the run of the place!
There came a time when we couldn’t find Alfalfa anywhere – inside or outside the house. Then we began to smell a bad odor in the kitchen. Alfalfa had crawled under the upholstered bench that was our kitchen table and died. Naturally we had a funeral and burial for him in the backyard.
It was fun when Alfalfa was loose in the house. We might find him anywhere.
This is very sweet!
Thanks, Resa.
I enjoyed this turtle story very much 🙂 I hope you have more stories to tell
Thanks, Rose.