The Tale of Two Turtles, One Cup

The second turtle had finally made it across the road, narrowly escaping the harsh smash of tire tread at least 15 times. It had braved the busy two-lane highway, which was a hot 160 degrees from the blistering Texas sun, and stood high on all fours. The view, as Turtle 2 waved his head around, embracing the essence, soaking up his future, was an entirely different ecosystem full of life.

Both turtles had been stuck out in a pasture for what seemed like months. There was no food or water in this gigantic field and all vegetation was brown and dead, fried from the weeks of no rain and 100 degree plus temperatures during the day.

The first turtle was scared, as it had been its entire life, and remained on the other side of the road, afraid to crawl up on the highway and make a dash for it. This turtle had always been afraid to stick his neck out and relied on the other turtle for basically everything.

Physically capable of doing anything the second turtle could do, the first turtle’s mindset left him paralyzed and shaking, every time he needed to cross a highway.

The first turtle would give anything to have the life of the second turtle, who was seemingly fearless, now nodding his head back at the first turtle, giving him the sign that there was life on the other side of the highway.

But the first turtle just couldn’t do it. “There is no way that I’ll make it across the road,” Turtle 1 said. “I’m just going to lay here and think about it for a little while longer.”

Hours pass now as Turtle 1 starts getting angry at Turtle 2, thinking back on all of the times that Turtle 2 had been able to eat, and Turtle 1 had starved. Envy and jealousy had now set in and Turtle 1 was furious.

Now being a loyal turtle, Turtle 2 waited patiently on the other side of the highway, even though, in Turtle 2’s view, there was a gigantic lake, with water as far as Turtle 2 could see. “I’ll wait for you Turtle 1, but you need to come on.”

Turtle 1 said, “I’ll cross the road when it cools down. It’s just too hot right now and I want to wait until the traffic dies down.” More hours pass, as Turtle 1 just lies there, afraid, jealous, thirsty, and hungry,

“You need to hurry up, Turtle 1! The road hunters will start making their rounds any time,” said Turtle 2. “It’s too dark now, exclaimed Turtle 1,” who was notorious about making excuses for everything. “I think I’ll wait until daylight when the sun starts to come up. Then, I will get up on the highway and cross it. It’ll be cool, there still won’t be much traffic, and I’ll be able to see to get across.

Turtle 2 said, “There’s no time, Turtle 1. We need to go, now!” “I just can’t do it yet, Turtle 2,” said. It was now around midnight. The Texas sky was lit with nearly every star in the galaxy, providing more than enough light for Turtle 1 to cross the cool, empty highway.

About that time, Jethro, a local road hunter starts driving near in his 1987 Chevy pickup truck, with his driver window rolled down, Lynyrd Skynyrd playing quietly on his AM/FM cassette deck and a 50,000 candle spotlight, looking for any signs of life. He pulls up and barely spots Turtle 1 and shines his light directly on him.

“Run, Turtle 1,” Turtle 2 screams! Turtle 2 was about 50 feet away from Turtle 1, on the shoulder of the other side of the highway. He started moving toward Turtle 1 to try and rescue him, but time wouldn’t allow for the rescue.

It was too late by this point. Jethro had gotten his truck into park by now, swung the truck door open, and started walking toward Turtle 1.

Turtle 2 kept moving toward Turtle 1, fearless and intent on biting the road hunter or doing whatever it took to rescue Turtle 1, knowing that his chances of survival were slim to none, but couldn’t make it back across the road in time.

Jethro used a dip net to scoop up Turtle 1, who was now flailing desperately, trying to escape.

Seconds later, Turtle 1 was dumped into a 5-gallon white plastic bucket. with no water, then started sliding from side to side, as Jethro anxiously drove to the local diner to show off his new catch, so he could get paid and purchase propane for his 1978 Winnebago RV.

After about 30 minutes, the truck stopped and Jethro brought local diner owner, Billy, out to the truck to show him Turtle 1, who said, “I’ll take him.” Turtle 1 is now fully in his shell and about to get fully deshelled.

Jethro walks over to the old-time register where Billy pushes a few buttons and opens it and pays Jethro his finder fee. Billy then tips the bucket out on a table in the back of the restaurant and uses a hammer to violently beat Turtle 1 to death.

Turtle 1 is then hacked up and placed in a giant pot with 12 1/2 cups water, 6 medium onions, 8 hard-boiled eggs, and an assortment of other ingredients.

Turtle 2 is now sad and grieving his long-time friend, Turtle 1, who he knows he will never see again, and proceeds down slowly toward the lake.

Around 11 AM the next day, the aroma of the turtle soup is filling the restaurant and Turtle 1 is served to hungry restaurant patrons for lunch, with each patron paying top dollar for one cup of delicious turtle soup.

Turtle 2 now is now living a healthy life, swimming around in the water heated by the hot Texas sun, with an abundance of food and other wildlife. Every now and then, he thinks of Turtle 1 and wishes that he could have done something to help him, but Turtle 1 had a small, victim-mentality mindset, which led to his demise.

The moral of the story here is that you can’t be afraid to stick your neck out and go for your dreams. People are waiting for you to come out of your shell and do what you were meant to in this world.

None of us know how much time we have left and each day that we wait for the elements to line up before we do anything is another day that is lost.

Is there risk in going after your dreams? Sure, but not taking action leads to life passing you by when there could have been so much that you accomplished.

Imagine if Turtle 1 would have just crossed the road. There were several opportunities, but Turtle 1 made excuses instead of just crossing the road.

What is holding you back? What excuses are keeping you from living your best life?

Do something today and every day that’ll get you closer to living the life of your dreams.

Written by: Mikaela Taylor (02/21/22)

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