The Homing Turtle

I'm still trying to figure this one out. Another mystery to unravel. Last summer while Dad was passing through Missouri he picked up a turtle that was, as the time trying to cross the freeway. He'd already seen a few that had been hit and didn't want this one to suffer the same fate. So he put it in the little mini fridge in the hatch of the truck and brought it home to Utah with him. The grandkids in particular were thrilled. We weren't sure how well the turtle would do in Utah's climate or if he'd find food but we trusted it to its own instincts and let it go in our back yard.

The turtle was gone within a day and for a couple weeks we forgot about it. Then, one day one of our neighbors came knocking. "I just saw this trying to cross the road and just about hit it. Is this your turtle by chance?" Mom said it was and asked how our neighbor knew. She said she just 'figured'. We were happy to have the turtle back but still had no place to contain him. Dad at one point suggested that we drill a small hole in the shell and keep him on a leash--something he'd seen a family do down south. But we all agreed we should just let it go again in the back yard. The little guy still looked healthy and thats all we could really hope for him. Twiced discovered in the road, once returned.

We wouldn't have thought a thing about this slightly peculiar return except that the very same thing happen five more times within the next six weeks. Each time someone in our neighborhood brought the turtle back saying, 'we found it trying to cross the road and thought it might be yours.' Yeah, it started to creep us out just a bit. I had noticed the first time I saw the turtle that it had quite outstanding red eyes. After six weeks of this lost and found process the poor little buggers eyes just seemed to be screeming 'let me go!' The last guy to return the turtle was not even a local. He was just passing through on a visit and saw the turtle crossing the road. Ours wasn't even the closest house but that's where he came. We I asked him why he said, "I just thought this might be the place."

After several failed attempts to think up a sensible conspiracy theory I've concluded that sometimes weird things just happen. Its been four months since anyone has seen the turtle and we are hoping he's faring well in Utah's winter. Maybe we'll see him again next summer.