In second grade of school, nothing is more exciting than taking care of the class' pet. At that age, I loved animals, especially the little ones.
Each week, one of my friends of my classroom had to take the pet to their house and take care of it because nobody was going to take care of it during weekend. I literally wished that I had to take care of the turtle forever. I wanted it every weekend but it wasn't possible because I wasn't the only one loving the innocent animal. I was kind of in love with the turtle. It was petit with a green shell speckled with black, little spots on top of it..
"Tugui" was our turtle's name. Gabriel, one of my classmates, suggested the funny, creative name and we all agreed.
At that age, probably eight or nine years old, a kid would find exciting and the coolest thing ever to take a pet to your house, and play with it for ours. At least, I did. I was particularly curious about the fact that having a turtle would maybe be just like taking care of a little baby... in my imagination.
Tugui didn't talk, didn't play with me as I hoped for, but for me it was the coolest pet I've ever take care of.
It was my turn. It felt like a game of who took care of it better of the class. My mom laughed at me because I wouldn't stop talking about the turtle. I was almost making a schedule of things to do including: "Buy food for Tugui."
I took the turtle home and played a lot with it. I got bored, but I wouldn't admit it because I had the idea of 'Hello! It's a turtle! It's cool!' I was speaking to myself, analyzing the fact that: Turtles are from the sea, they must like sun. I was an innocent, childish, typical kid that assumed but never asked.
I took Tugui and left it on the grass assuming that it would probably get happy and "thankful" to me for being such a nice, careful nanny.
I forgot completely about the turtle and it was dark already when I returned home. I went running, rushing to the backyard to where I thought I left it. I was thinking: "Oh my God! Lula you're such a bad person, you left it without water in there! How could you?"
"Where's Tugui?" asked my mom, "It's sunbathing outside!" She, laughing said: "Baby, it's dark already, there is no sun out there."
I went running again to the backyard and while I was approaching, I couldn't believe it. There it was, full of holes. It was bitten by my dog "Cutie"! I couldn't help the guilt I felt inside me. I started to cry because I was worried about what my classmates would say about me, I thought they would say that I was such a careless girl. That was a Saturday.
My mom told me that she could buy me a new turtle on Sunday, and even though it wasn't the same, I had to accept that and take Tugui's replacement to my classroom. We bought 2 turtles and I took them to my school, two days after... They disappeared.
I was a little kid with a huge imagination. I never thought, and it never crossed my mind, that Cutie was going to eat Tugui at all. I felt really disappointed about myself; I thought that I was the responsible for the turtle’s death and that I acted irresponsibly. My mom was constantly telling me that I wasn’t my fault that it was Cutie’s, but still, I didn’t care. I wouldn’t listen.
I will surely tell this story to my children and grand-children when I get older. I still laugh about myself thinking about this anecdote, my mom does too.
Since Tugui’s death, I don't sunbath turtles.
