by Michael Plante

“I wasn’t always a turtle”, he said.

“At one time I was a stone sitting at the side of the road waiting for my next life. Life at that time was the best. I could withstand the heat of summer and the coldness of winter. The rains just washed right off me. I couldn’t travel much but then again when you’re a stone there’s no real need to go anywhere”.

The cumbersome turtle had stopped by the pond for a short rest. Basking in the summer’s sun he decided to have a conversation with the ladybug that eating an aphid. The sweetness of the sap sucking corpse kept the ladybug from responding to the turtle. On the other side of the pond a frog peered his eyes just above the waterline. Contentedly watching the two he had no care for them. With his belly filled from a cricket moments ago he was just fine where he was.

“I remember cracking the shell of the egg that encased me”, the turtle went on to say.
“It was quite the struggle to get out. I twisted and turned until I was finally free of it. Once out I headed directly for this pond here. This has been my home ever since”.
The cumbersome turtle looked side to side searching for predators that may harm him.
“It’s tough being a turtle”, he went on to say.
I awkwardly move about the land and with this shell on my back it’s like moving a house. Every year it seems to get thicker and heavier. I’m afraid on day it’ll get too heavy for me to move, then what? I’ll tell you, some damn fox or crow will come along and pick the heck out of me, that’s what!
“For a ladybug you don’t say much”, he offered.
The ladybug continued without issuing a word. Its only interest was with its meal.
“The only solace I have is knowing that I’ll outlive you”, he said.
In the summer’s sun the cumbersome turtle closed his eyes a moment and let the warmth of the day seep into his bones. There was always activity going on around the pond. Noise of other animals and creatures meant everything was fine. It was only when things went silent that danger was present. Danger exists within the silence.

“When a tree falls in the woods it’s stirs a violent memory”, he said as he opened his eyes. “Nothing is permanent in our world”. The cumbersome turtle peered to see that the ladybug had moved on to something different and that he had been talking to himself.
“I know you’re there”, he said to the frog.
“I know you’ve been listening to my conversation”
The frog didn’t move from his position. He was quite content with where he was.
“As I said in the beginning I was once a stone sitting at the side of a road”.
I was tough and strong and thought I was indestructible. But it’s funny how life will prove you wrong. Sure I outlasted many things. I saw whole forest rise only to be wiped out by fire and then rise again. There was a time when it snowed, and snowed, and then it didn’t go away for centuries. We were all in darkness those days. And then the next thing you know the sun had melted away the snow and life flourished again. Weather like that changes your perspective on life. Until ignorance blooms and we’re all put back into darkness again. I don’t know if we’re going forward or backwards in this cycle of ignorance?
“Did you know Mother Nature has two faces?”, he asked the frog.
“She does”, he replied to himself.

At one point she’s kind and loving, the next she’s scorned and on the warpath. She’ll command the winds to knock down trees and tear bushes from their roots. She’ll bring forth lightening to scorch the very ground we walk on just because she can. That’s how I died last time. A lightening bolt struck me and I went from a solid stone to dust. I became airborne and was spread all over the place. It was a violent death brought on by Mother Nature.
“My absence wasn’t really an absence”, he said as he closed his eyes once again.
My essence in particle form was spread to be absorbed by others yet consciousness is retrieved within life-form. Each particle contains a portion indestructible consciousness that can be accessed once absorbed by another creature. Once my mother absorbed me I was transformed into an egg. Mother Nature took care of the rest.
“It’s a funny thing awareness and consciousness. Especially around here”, he said as opened his eyes again. We all have a conscious, yet some are lacking in the awareness department. Take those ants for an example. Their consciousness as a whole exists, yet the further away one of them get from that colony the less aware they become.
The frog had enough of the turtle’s observations and disappeared under the water line. Off in the distance the screeching of a bird could be heard as it fought with another over territory. The afternoon sun was now past the tree line casting long shadows towards the pond. The turtle looked to the skies and contemplated his thoughts a moment.

“I spend most of my life scrapping my belly on the ground as I walk”, he thought. “Not many creatures can say that’s what they’d do to stay alive”. He momentarily marveled at his own accomplishment. “Some creatures have it easy and they don’t know it”, he though.
The shifting of the grass from behind could only mean one thing, a snake was on the move seeking its next meal. It drew near and stopped short picking up on the scent of the turtle. “Don’t worry, I’m not hungry enough to eat a snake at the moment”, he said. The snake was hesitant in moving. The turtle wasn’t a meal to him, but some animals will kill and not eat just to survive.
“It’s a game to her”, he said to the snake. She places us in her world and the first and only mission is to survive, some of us will need a little assistance in the beginning, some of us are left behind by our mothers to fend for ourselves. We fight with each other to stay alive, we conquer, we eat, we kill all for the sake of Mother Nature. She is demented bitch.  

“If you were a friend you would scratch my back for me”, said the turtle with a chuckle. His muses were only amusing to himself. The snake waited patiently to see what the turtle would do next. The slithering tongue catching a scent in the air indicated that he was safe from the turtle and that there was a meal near by. It slithered on by unharmed.
“You too one day shall die”, he said closing his eyes. Within the temporary absence of one’s mind anarchy arrives to play havoc. Echoing silence shall be maestro conducting as death steps upon the dance floor. The failing light of the day continues to dim and the weary falter in life. The shadow of death circles the ground as life around the pond grows silent. We are all pray to death’s desire.

The cumbersome turtle picked up on the wind’s vibration but too late. With ease the eagle plucked him from the ground then flew higher with him in his grasp. The turtle could see his time was closing in fast. The view from such a height astounding to him. Never had he left the ground before. Such a magnificent view he had. The woods below stretched beyond his sight all the way to where the sun was sitting. Higher into the air the eagle took him. He could see the twisting river cutting through the woods. From this viewpoint he could see the ends of the earth. For the first and last time he smelled the air from above. It had a different scent to it. Cleaner, fresher, and revitalizing. He closed his eyes one last time and felt the wind under his belly.

“Don’t be afraid”, the eagle said.
“I too was once a cumbersome turtle”, and with those words he let the turtle drop to its death.