Catch up!

Adam and Ramata broke from each other’s heated gaze and turned towards the stage. The curtain had parted a tiny bit and, right at the bottom, a tiny Turtle poked its tiny head through the tiny crack.

“Children, please, keep it down. Do you want all of Ocean to be privy to your ridiculous bickering?”

Ramata pushed Adam at his shoulder and whispered, “Told you.”

He turned to give a mean look but saw that Ramata was smiling. He smiled back. “Yeah, yeah, you told me.” The three swam over to the open curtain.

Chapter 16
Sometimes, a Turtle Finds You

The Turtle on the stage in between the red curtains’ gap was brown and green and oh-so-small.

“I thought you’d be bigger,” Adam said.

“And that, brilliant one, is what you get for thinking,” said the Turtle while slowly taking its time to look at each of them. “You three certainly make a ruckus. You do know that sharks hunt these waters?”

Adam put what was left of his foot in front of him and stuck the mangled mess into the Turtle’s face. The Turtle turned its head and frowned. “Then why must you yell?”

Adam explained, “I didn’t think you were here and I was beginning to get angry.”

“And mean,” added Ramata.

“Well, I heard every moment, loud and clear.”

“You were here and you didn’t say anything?” said Adam, anger again threatening to overtake him.

“Where else would I be? You kept talking. I kept listening. Interrupting another’s conversation quite rude and the like.” The little Turtle, no bigger than Adam’s hand, crawled out from behind the curtains and swam up to look Adam in the face. “Now, you must answer me in haste for I need to surface for a long, long breath. Why are you here?”

Boldly presented with THE question and being on the spot to answer, Adam drew a blank. He looked at the little creature in front of him but was unable to say a single word.

“Speak, child, or you will surely have cause to scream and yell about being alone with no Turtle around. Why…are you here?”