ONCE IN A LIFETIME
Tiberius munched a dandelion leaf and watched squirrels running across the grass and scampering up tree trunks.
He watched birds soaring across the sky.
He watched his human, Jackson, playing with friends nearby. They were whooshing up and down the driveway on skateboards.
They were all so fast!
He sighed. He had never been fast. His legs were strong, but short and bent. He left the rest of the dandelion leaf for later and moved slowly into the shady part of his enclosure.
“Hi, friend!”
The voice was so unexpected that he nearly pulled his head and legs into his shell. Instead, he stretched his long neck to the side so he could see his visitor.
“Uh, hi,” he said. “I didn’t hear you coming.”
“No wonder, with all the noise those humans are making!”
Tiberius wasn’t sure he liked this stranger talking about Jackson that way.
“One of those humans is MY human,” he said. “He and his dad built this big house for me so I could be outside for a while every day when the weather is warm, and I have another house inside for at night and when the weather is bad.”
“Wow!” the stranger said, “I don’t have a house at all. I live in the stream just on the other side of those trees.”
Tiberius had never been in the woods behind Jackson’s yard. It seemed very mysterious. “In the stream?” he said. “Can you swim?”
“Of course,” the stranger said and held up one flipper-looking leg, “I’m a turtle! My name is Leaf. I got that name when I was young and my shell was green.”
Now his shell was brownish and he had yellow stripes on his face and big red patches on the sides of his head.
Tiberius decided not to be angry about Leaf’s noisy human comment. “Sorry, I’ve never met a turtle before. My name is Tiberius, but you can call me Ty. I’m a tortoise.”
“Glad to meet you,” Leaf said. “I don’t think any tortoises live in the woods.”
In the woods? What did they do when there was cold rain and snow? “It’s a long walk from the woods,” Ty said.
Leaf laughed. “I know! I don’t walk very well on land; I’m not high enough off of the ground. But the worms in this garden are worth the trip!”
Ty thought YUCK about eating worms, but was too polite to say it. “What about in the water?”
Leaf looked confused. “What about it?”
“You said you don’t walk very well on land. What’s it like in the water? What’s it like to swim?”
“Umm… It’s hard to describe. It’s like…” He looked up as a sparrow flew from one tree to another. “It’s like that. The water for me is like the air for a bird.”
“Can you go fast?”
“Sometimes, if I find a spot where the water is deep without too many plants.”
“I wish I could go fast. I’ve been slow my whole life.”
Leaf tipped his head to one side. “I didn’t know tortoises wanted to go fast.”
“This one does.”
“Do you want it badly enough to do anything?”
“Oh-oh,” Ty thought. This sounded like something he should be very careful about. “I wouldn’t hurt anybody to do it.”
Leaf waved a flipper. “Nothing like that. How’s your magic?”
“I only have a little. Mostly I use it to ask Jackson to bring me a strawberry. I send him a strawberry thought. It usually works.” He smiled. “I love strawberries!”
“Have you tried to go fast with magic?”
“Once. It just made my legs twitch.”
“Okay. I think it would take very powerful magic to make a tortoise fast. If we put our magic together, do you think you could get out of this house?”
“I like my house!”
“Just for a little while. I know someone who might be able to help. He lives in the woods. Do you want to try or should I just hunt worms and go home?”
“I definitely and absolutely want to try.”
“Good.” Leaf put his head next to the enclosure’s wire wall. Ty pushed up close.
“When I say GO,” he said, “think of yourself over here with me. Think very hard.”
“Okay. Have you ever done this befo -”
“GO!”
Ty felt dizzy. The whole world was spinning the wrong way. “Leaf?’ he said, “what happened to everything? Everything is upside down. Wait a minute. I’M upside down!”
“Right. Maybe together we had a little too much power. It worked though. Magic took you through the fence without even bending a wire. Nice job, Ty!”
Ty kicked, trying to roll over, but he just rocked back and forth. “A little help would be nice,” he said.
“Oh, sorry.” Leaf used his nose to tip Ty back onto his feet. “Let’s get started.”
“All that magic made me hungry,” Ty said. “I’m going to grab a bite of that burdock plant on our way.”
“Now that you mention it, I never got the worm I came for.” Leaf looked around, “There’s one!” Two gulps and the worm was gone.
Ty turned his head away and thought about the burdock plant. Who would want to eat a worm? Yuck!
Leaf led the way. He was right; on land, he wasn’t much faster than Ty. His legs went out to the sides and his lower shell often rubbed along the ground.
At the edge of the woods, Ty stopped. “Is it safe?”
“It’s not absolutely safe.” Leaf looked back at him. “Adventures are never absolutely safe, but this close to where humans live there aren’t a lot of dangerous animals. Do you want to go fast or not?”
Ty was embarrassed. He really, really wanted to go fast, but the woods were so BIG! He took a deep breath. “Yes,” he said. “Let’s go!”
They walked and walked. Leaf told him about the plants that Ty had never seen before and he told Leaf about his house inside Jackson’s house with the nice warm light in the winter time. He felt bad that Leaf didn’t have a warm house in the Winter, but Leaf didn’t seem upset at all.
“Must be strange,” he said. “That would be like having Summer all year long.”
“It is, I guess,” Ty said, “but I don’t come outside and the strawberries aren’t as good.”
Leaf laughed. “Strawberries! You might find some wild strawberries here in the woods. I’ve never tried to eat one.”
“I’ve never tried to eat a worm,” Ty said and wondered if a strawberry seemed as yuck to Leaf as a worm did to him.
“More worms for me, more strawberries for you!” Leaf laughed again. “Sounds perfect to me!” He tipped his nose into the air. “Smell the water? My stream’s near. We’ll be able to hear it soon.”
They walked slowly along the path made by deer and other animals. “Could I ask a question?” Ty said.
“Sure. I hope I know the answer.”
“You said you knew someone who might be able to help me go fast. Who is it?”
“A box turtle. A very old, very wise box turtle.”
“Does he go fast?”
Leaf smiled. “I doubt it. He’s big and heavy. He walks more slowly than we do.”
Ty trudged along. An old, heavy turtle, even a wise one, didn’t sound like a good person to ask about going fast. He was beginning to wonder if this adventure was just a waste of time.
“Almost there,” Leaf said. “Hear that? My stream is down there, down the slope.”
Ty could hear water moving. He left the path and stretched his neck out to see better.
“Watch out!” Leaf said, “the clay and pieces of shale are very slippery. It’s fun to slide into the water if you can swim. Can tortoises swim?”
“I don’t think I can,” Ty said. “I have a little pool at home, but the water is only as deep as the edge of my shell. I walk through it.”
“Can’t walk through this stream, unless you have long legs like a human. Just be careful.” Leaf waved a flipper toward a bend in the path ahead. “That’s where we’re going. Come on!”
Leaf had been right. The old box turtle was even bigger than Ty had imagined. If it weren’t for his bright red eyes, Ty might have mistaken him for a brown and yellow rock.
“Grand Turtle Brown Clay,” Leaf said, “May I introduce my friend Tiberius. He has come all the way from the land of human houses to seek your wisdom.”
“An odd name, ‘Tiberius’,” said the old tortoise.
“I-I think it’s a human name, Your Grandness.”
The Grand Turtle chuckled. “Clay will do, young one. I appreciate Leaf’s fine manners, but I’m just an old turtle who’s learned a lot through the years.”
“You’re a great worker of magic!” Leaf said.
Clay bobbed his head. “Thank you, Leaf.” He looked at Ty. “And what knowledge do you seek that made you travel all the way from the human houses, young Tiberius?”
“I want…” Suddenly, wanting to go fast seemed like an unimportant and foolish thing. “I wanted…”
“Come on, Ty!” Leaf said, “the Grand Turtle can’t help you if you won’t tell him what you want.”
“I’ve always wanted to go fast; to be able to run like birds fly. I guess that’s silly. I’m a tortoise.”
“Indeed you are, young –Ty, was it? And there’s nothing silly about wanting to try something that seems beyond your reach. It shows you have imagination, which is a good thing.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Clay nodded. “Now, if you wanted to fly the way a bird flies, I couldn’t help you; you don’t have wings. But you want to run, and you do have legs.”
“But they’re short, and my shell is heavy.”
Clay laughed. “Oh, I know! I admit to using magic sometimes to make my shell a little lighter. But running – really running – is once-in-a-lifetime magic for a tortoise, or a box turtle. And once is usually more than enough. It was for me.”
Ty stared at him. “Did you run? Fast?”
“I did. When I was much younger, of course.”
“Was it fun?”
“Oh, yes! But it’s something you have to do yourself to understand. You’re not just moving along the ground faster, EVERYTHING is faster. I was so tired by the time the magic wore off I couldn’t even drag myself home. I slept in an old log for three days.”
“Could…could you do that magic for me?”
“Ty has some magic of his own,” Leaf said. “He helped go through the fence where he lives.”
“Excellent!” Clay said. “It always works better when there’s more than one source of magic. But…” He raised his head and looked down at Ty. “There are dangers. Not from the magic itself, but from foolish things you might do.”
“I’ll try to be careful,” Ty said. “I want to be fast, even if it is just once.”
“Very well,” Clay said. “Try to stay on the path. At least stay in the woods. Do not run out onto the human road. You will be fast, but cars are faster.”
Ty remembered riding in what Jackson called a car a long time ago. “Are cars dangerous?”
“To tortoises and turtles they are very dangerous. No roads. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Stand in front of me. Leaf, if you would like to add your magic…”
“Of course, Grand Turtle.” Leaf moved behind Ty.
“Now,” Clay said, “When I lift a foot and set it down, you lift your foot on the same side and set it down. Leaf will do the same thing. It sounds complicated, but it’s really easy once we have started. I will do the magic chant. The important thing for you to remember is to keep moving your feet no matter what happens or how strange you might feel. If you break the magic, you will never get another chance to go fast.”
Nice old Brown Clay was beginning to sound like a Very Grand Turtle, and the way he held his head high in a shaft of sunlight made him look bigger and more important than ever. Ty swallowed hard. No matter what happens? How strange I might feel? “I’m ready,” he said in a very small voice.
“Then we begin.” Clay lifted a foot slowly and waited for Ty and Leaf to copy him, then he set it down. Then again, faster. When they were perfectly together, Clay began to chant.
“Lighten, lighten heavy shell,
Sturdy legs must now unbend.
Do these things and do them well,
Magic speed this tortoise lend.”
Their feet made a soft drumming noise in the dirt. Clay’s voice, chanting over and over, sounded far away.
Ty’s legs hurt for just a second. He was farther from the ground! He was taller! He was so surprised he nearly stopped stomping to look down, but he remembered what Clay had said.
Tiny lights like bright fire flies danced around them. Ty kept drumming his feet, but they hardly seemed to be touching the ground.
Suddenly, Clay stopped chanting. “It…is…done,” he said.
Ty shook his head. The Grand Turtle was speaking so slowly!
Leaf said “I…will…keep…watch…for…you…as…you…run.”
“Go…now,” the Grand Turtle said. “Be…caref-…”
Ty’s feet were carrying him away before Clay’s last word ended.
Grass flew by in a green blur. Bits of dirt, some damp, some dusty, shot from under his feet. A small, fallen branch lay across the path. His thoughts raced as fast as his feet. Stop and climb over? No! Jump!
He sailed over the branch. It was almost like flying!
A baby rabbit joined him as he landed. “Want to race?” it asked.
Race a rabbit? “Yes!” Ty’s legs started to move faster. The path took them along the bank of Leaf’s stream. Soon the rabbit was left behind. Could this be real? Was he dreaming?
He could hear a voice far behind him. It sounded like Leaf but the air rushing past his ears made it impossible for Ty to hear what he said.
Another branch was ahead. He sailed over this one too, but when he landed, his legs hurt. They hurt a little, then they hurt a lot. He felt heavier. His feet slipped on a patch of mud.
He rolled and slid like a heavy little stone.
Down the slope to the stream.
Into the water.
He stretched his head above the surface and gulped air, but his shell and feet weren’t built for swimming and he sank to the bottom of the stream.
The water was cold and he was so tired. He wasn’t fast any more, he could hardly move. Help! He thought.
A shape shot through the water. A brown turtle with red patches and yellow stripes on his head. Leaf!
Leaf pushed under Ty and lifted him to the top of the water. Ty could breathe again.
“Hold on,” Leaf said. Very slowly, he swam to the edge of the stream so that Ty could crawl onto the bank.
“I tried to warn you,” Leaf said as he pulled himself out of the water. “The magic ends as quickly as it starts.”
“Thank you,” Ty said. “I thought I heard you, but everything happened so fast…”
“That’s what the Grand Turtle said.” Leaf pushed Ty into a patch of sun to warm up. “He also told you how tired he was after his magic run.”
“Now I understand.” Ty looked down. His legs were bent again and still sturdy, but felt like pieces of dead grass. “I won’t be able to walk home.”
“You won’t have to. Your human is looking for you now.”
“How do you know that?”
Leaf laughed. “Brown Clay can do more than make tortoises go fast. He’s sending thoughts to Jackson to help him find you.”
“Like when I send thoughts about strawberries?”
“Just like that.” Leaf raised his head. “Listen. Footsteps. Human footsteps. Some light, some heavier. I have to go. If they don’t find you, I’ll come back.” He slid into the stream and swam out of sight.
“Dad! Over here! I found him!”
Jackson’s sneakers slid and crunched on the shale beside the stream. “Tiberius!
How did you get this deep in the woods? Dad thinks maybe a bird grabbed you and carried you away. Is that what happened? Are you okay?” He picked Ty up.
“You’re all wet!”
Jackson’s dad caught up and helped Jackson climb the slippery stream bank.
“When we get home,” he said, “we’ll put a wire top on Ty’s pen so nothing can reach him.”
“Do you really think it was a bird?”
“I don’t know how else he could have left his pen and travelled this far. Did you check him over? No claw marks or cracks in his shell?”
Jackson looked at Ty’s top shell, then held him up to check the bottom shell. “He looks perfect.”
“He’s a very lucky little guy,” dad said. “Let’s take him home.”
“Can we go back the way we came?” Jackson asked. “I saw some wild strawberries.”
Dad laughed and pushed a thorny bush out of the way. “Someday Ty is going to turn into a strawberry!”
Jackson laughed too, so Ty decided that Dad was joking. He hoped so. Being a strawberry didn’t sound like much fun. Not nearly as much fun as going fast. Not even as much fun as walking slowly.
He tried sending a thought to Leaf and was surprised when he got an answer right away.
“Everything all right?”
“Yes. Please thank the Grand Turtle for his magic.”
“I will, but he already told me that if you need magic again, he would be happy to help. Just not for going fast.”
“I remember. Once-in-a-lifetime. I hope you’ll visit the garden again.”
“I will.”
“Good.” Ty realized that he was tired all over. He pulled his tired legs and his tired neck into his shell. He would probably have nice dreams about going fast for many years, but Brown Clay was right, even without the rule, once was enough.
For now, he would settle into Jackson’s warm hands and dream about wild strawberries.
ADVICE FROM A TURTLE
Come out of your shell.
Be well-rounded. Slow down.
Know when to stick your neck out.
Log time with friends.
Home is where your heart is.
Snap out of it!
ADVICE FROM A SEA TURTLE
Swim with the current.
Stay calm under pressure.
Be well-traveled.
Spend time at the beach.
Age gracefully!