The Tale of the Little Red Turtle

Good evening everyone 🙂

I’m going to tell you a brief story about an inanimate object that has a certain sentimental value to me. When I was a little boy I used to make trips from Mt Isa (North West QLD, Australia) over to various major cities on the East Coast (Townsville, Mackay, Cairns) in order to play representative football. These would have all occurred around the ages of 8-12 and they were once a year. One year my father decided to stop in at a little town on the Flinder’s Highway and grab lunch. I am unsure which town this was, but there was a cute little gem store that we investigated. It was your typical bush shop with a corrugated iron roof and barely any air circulation. The red dust gave the floor a unique look like a bloody snowstorm and on more than gem case the glass had to be wiped to see the goods. It was here in this quaint shop that I found the subject of today’s tale.

He doesn’t have a name, but he is made of Jasper (stone of my birth month) so let’s go with that. I loved it and while I’m not typically a jewellery wearing guy I had to have it. As if already destined to happen I somehow managed to convince my usually tight-wadded father to get it for me, and the journey began.

This little guy has been with me for nearly two decades and has travelled to all manner of places. He has worked with me in the sweltering heat of the northern territory. He has soaked himself in the cool of the Pacific Ocean. He has been overseas and today he escaped the state of purgatory for all inanimate objects – lost and found.

Six days ago I took him off to do some exercises in the sand while enjoying a relaxing afternoon in the nature reserve near my house.

In my absent mindedness I left him behind on a bed of soft sand. It wasn’t until hours later in the middle of the night did it hit me that I had left him behind. Naturally, I was pretty pissed off at how idiotic I had been. What quickly followed was the realisation that the high tide had most assuredly swept him away for good and so I lost all hope. Fast forward to my attempt to feel better (have the flu right now) by soaking in some sun and getting some fresh air. After my walk I made the executive decision to investigate where he would have been justifying it as “Might as well…”. The water was bloody freezing to the point where my feet hurt by the time I made it across to the sand island. Initially there was no sign of him, but after some enthusiastic digging in the sand I came across my familiar friend.

This probably sounds utterly ridiculous to you all, but I am extremely happy I bothered to look. I’ve either lost or thrown away most other items like him from my past in various moves and shifts in my life, but I always kept him around. It would have been a shame to lose nearly 20 years of history with something. So ends the tale of Jasper the little red turtle.

Thanks for reading my insanity