It has been a few days already since my turtle pet was gone, swept away by the flood. Today, a first cousin came by to our house and informed me that he saw my turtle in the irrigation, so we followed him and we ended saw a turtle stuck inside with the frogs. It was difficult to reach the turtle so my mother asked me to look for a stick to pull the turtle out, I accidentally tripped over in the irrigation that cause my feet to bleed. The stick didn’t help because the water pressure is big so I took a hollow block to block the water from coming in as well as a flashlight to see the inside of the covered road irrigation; I have also asked my younger sister’s help since I can’t block the water and fish out the turtle at the same time.

It took us long time to fish the turtle out, and when I took it out I knew from the spot it wasn’t my Thurty, the turtle is a bit smaller and lighter and has different shell pattern. The turtle is very outgoing too, it was not even scared when I picked it, it didn’t even hide in his shell unlike Thurty who is not socially inclined like me, we both love to hide rather than socializing with people. The turtle we found doesn’t have scratches at the bottom too, Thurty has scratches because we found him in the street after being hit and run by someone’s motorcycle.

Well, I still took the newly found turtle home and kept in on the green pail where I kept my old turtle. I’ve been missing Thurty that every time I feed our pets I always throw a second look at the green pail wishing he didn’t run away.

The new turtle maybe signifies the new me, my new and improved attitude and like Thurty, it was also reminding me to take things slower and wait for right and perfect divine timing before I rush myself out.

It rained a lot last night; it was very heavy with thunderstorm and lightning. I am half-awake and half-asleep when my mother wakes me up to look after my turtle. Since I am dead tired to wake up from severe headache, I just whimper and went back to sleep. I had a developing headache before we pay a visit in our second degree cousin confined in a provincial hospital and it became severe when we went home, I think it was from eating barbecue chicken head; it was maybe frozen for a long time so food intolerance strike. I didn’t wake up too because I was a bit lazy and I have thought the turtle can breathe underwater and won’t escape and even if he escape it won’t matter since I am planning to set him free anyway.

This morning, I was still in bed when my mother yelled that my turtle was gone already. I get up and look at the pail where I have kept it, the turtle was really gone and the pail is full of water, although I have already accepted that the turtle might be gone when I wake up in the morning I still look and asked around if anyone see it.  Well, I’ll surely miss Thurty, Baol as my father fondly call him.