From the Observation Deck

What it is ain’t exactly clear. There’s a turtle in the path over there. Snapping at Grendel and saying beware.

So I have decided to come clean with something that’s been plaguing me all summer. At first it was just weird coincidences. But now I’m thinking that there has to be a reason for all this—something I’m supposed to do. I just don’t know what to make of it. So I did some research on the Internet to see if there’s been some global phenomenon, natural disaster, or another story of man destroying the planet. I found a bit of everything but nothing to explain my little, what should I call it? How about freaky turtle sightings?

It started last spring while I was walking Grendel in the woods by my house. There I was minding my own business, in deep thought, when all of the sudden—not a word usually associated with turtles, I know—there was this turtle in the path. I actually jumped. Grendel, wondering what I was freaking out about, turned and finally noticed the reptile. Seriously—I don’t know how he missed it considering his nose is to the ground at all times. It took a lot of muscle to pull him away from this interesting creature. That was the first sighting. Then on several trips to the beach I saw both live and dead turtles in the sand. A few more sightings in various parts of the woods around my house, one sighting by my neighbor, and continued references to both real and animated turtles throughout the summer fed my new turtle paranoia. Finally, yesterday I saw one sitting under my neighbor’s fence. I wanted to warn my neighbor about it but was too late. He told me he freaked out when he saw it later that day. So I’m not alone in the jumping thing and feeling a bit better now. But honestly. What is it? All summer. Turtles. Everywhere.

Have any of you had a similar experience? I don’t necessarily mean with turtles but with anything like this? I feel like God is trying to tell me something. I can’t figure it out though so I thought I’d put it out there and see if any of you have any ideas. Like I said, I did some research and here are some of the stories I found. There certainly are a lot of stories, and turtles seem to be pretty popular—and not just because of Finding Nemo’s “Crush” or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I wonder why. They’re okay, but what’s the fascination?

• Turtles Stop Traffic on JFK Runways—Eighty turtles refused to get the shell out of the way of Kennedy Airport runway traffic yesterday, causing a 1½-hour snarl at one of JFK’s busiest times.
  
• Turtle Named for Obama Freed on Independence Day—I don’t think any additional explanation is needed. Crazy people.
• Biologists Worry over Increased Turtle Harvest—Surging demand for turtle meat in Southeast Asia has prompted a huge jump in turtle harvesting, leading to concerns that populations of the reptiles could suffer permanent damage.
• Why Sea Turtles are Important—One reason given on this site is that sea turtles have been on the earth, more or less unchanged in form, since before the dinosaurs.