SNAPPING TURTLE
A white haired woman in jeans, sneakers and a pink windbreaker stops her car in the middle of the road and gets out. I pull up behind her. I lean out the window and see she’s stopped for a turtle crossing the road by Stink Run. Cars line up behind us. She tries to shoo him with a newspaper but he’s not having it.
Cars honk behind us. A trucker in the east bound lane gets out of his cab and marches over to take control. The turtle didn’t like him much either. There’s a short siren blast and a state police car pulls up. A woman statie gets out. She smiles at the situation. This is why I went to traffic control school, she’s thinking. She walks over, prepared to pick him up.
The turtle leaps. She jumps back. Her big white Stetson falls to the road. The turtle fastens on the brim.
She and the white haired woman both start laughing. I didn’t know a turtle could jump like that. Neither did they, I guess.
The statie goes over, picks up her hat from the opposite side of the brim, carries it to the culvert where Stink Run makes its way to the river and shakes the turtle off into the cattails. It appears there’s no damage to the hat. She puts it on and begins waving the traffic along.
on West State Street -
a snapping turtle
tips his hat