Today Is The Day

I was sitting on the top of the grassy hill near a dried up watering hole watching what I thought was the most beautiful sunrise spill out into the morning sky. It was a brilliant show of red and orange hues that laced through puffs of grey and white clouds. The sky called to me, "move forward come" it seemed to say. Even though I had rested for awhile, I was still dead tired. So, there I sat on the side of South Post Road watching the sun break over the trees and then it dawned on me today is the day I will die. I felt it.

It was time to lift up my size 14 body, (that’s in inches), and get moving. Eight summer seasons ago, I was born a male soft shelled turtle and today will be my last. There was a time when I could inflict a serious bite with my powerful jaws, and sharp jaw sheath. My neck is built to extend, twist, and chomp. I also have well-developed webbing on each foot. I was lightning fast in the water and also on land.

Sitting on that hill looking down at the gray, hot, hard sea below me filled with huge flying heavy predators, I saw my way out. Pushing the tall vegetation aside I moved fast; but, I savored each blade of grass rushing past my leathery underbelly. I treasured the energy vibrating from the Earth beneath my feet and the hot morning sun beating down on my shell. I arrived at the threshold of the hard gray sea and took one step, another, and then another. My head and feet retracted inside the protection of my shell and I lowered my body down on the flat burning sea. I waited for death to take me.

Something happened that has never happened, ever. A large predator attacked me from above. They did not pinch, scrape, claw or bite. They came at each side of my shell behind my two front legs using soft pressure to lift me in the air. I was flying! I waved my legs and extended my toe nails trying to kick them off. They let out a shriek, released me and I plunged fast to the ground. The soft thick grass cushioned my fall and before I could retaliate, I was lifted again. I tucked in my head and legs keeping completely still. No sooner than I felt my body temperature dropping, my belly touched down on the grass and I was released. The scent of snails, insects, lizards, and fish as well as algae and aquatic plants was on the wind. I ran as fast as I could toward that smell, the smell of renewal. The smell of a new day was waiting for me. I was alive!

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