Saving Peg Leg

By Michael Fitzpatrick

In the story Saving Peg Leg, Jane finds an injured turtle in her backyard. She wants to keep this turtle as a pet and nurse it back to good health. After taking the turtle to the vet and visiting the library, Jane learns lots of interesting facts about her new turtle friend. She learns that its best not to keep turtles in captivity. Jane struggles with doing the right thing in letting the turtle return to a natural habitat, knowing it is injured. Through help from her loving family members, many new and old friends, her love for animals, and her strong belief in her faith, Jane overcomes her worries for the well-being of the turtle she calls Peg Leg. She also realizes that God is sending her on a mission of strength, love, and determination for helping one of his creations live a normal life in a suitable habitat.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524694814

Michael Fitzpatrick

Saving Peg Leg is Michael’s first book he has published. Inspired by true events, Michael used many details provided by Jane, the main character, who is a neighbor and friend, in an interview in writing this story. Michael recently received a Master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University. There he learned and participated in research based learning. Research also contributed to the story’s plot. He plans to continue writing other stories in the future. Michael is a first-grade teacher and loves teaching all subjects, especially writing, to his students. When his class writes and shares each day, it makes it the most rewarding part of the school day. Michael also has written over thirty poems about a leprechaun who visits his classroom every year. Michael grew up in a suburb of Boston, MA, where he still resides. In his spare time, Michael enjoys candlepin bowling, swimming, and baseball.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Egg

An egg is a fascinating creation. It can come in many colors and sizes, and is oval in shape. From creatures as small as a butterfly to as large as an ostrich, life begins a new stage of living when the egg hatches. Some of these creatures spend time learning from their mothers. Baby birds are fed and taught to fly, and when ready, they leave the nest to venture off on their own. Other animals, when they hatch, are on their own from the beginning of life and never get to learn from their parents. One of these animals is the turtle.

After turtles mate, they lay their eggs under a sandy shore on a beach or muddy area of a riverbank. The turtles will never see their babies hatch.

2.jpg

They immediately return to the water. When their eggs hatch, the young turtles begin their journey of life by trekking through their ancestral waters, fending off life’s ups and downs by themselves in search of a place to call home.

One early morning in late August, just before the sun began to rise in start of a new day, a small wood turtle hatched out of its shell from under the cool, grainy sand on the shore of the Connecticut River. Its mother, nowhere to be seen, had laid her eggs only a few months prior. It immediately began its life crawling slowly on the top layer of the wet sand toward the bank of the river, leaving a perfect track of footprints and underbody behind. It soon reached its destination, diving under the cold water and searching for its first meal. As it moved gracefully downstream, the turtle swam into a rapidly moving current, causing it to glide through the water like a skier on a steep slope glides down the freshly fallen snow. A sense of peace filled its body; it was happy to be alive.

The turtle settled on a muddy shore about a mile from where it began its life. He crawled up to a flat part of a large stone sticking out from the mud and lay quietly for a while. The sun shone brightly on its shell as its first day of life on land began.

Chapter 2

Captured and Released

A boy, about five years of age, was using binoculars in search of something unique. He stood on a walking bridge and looked down along the shore where the turtle was basking.

Hey, Mom! Just look at the turtle! I’m gonna capture it! said the boy.

3.jpg

Before his mother could respond, the boy was holding the turtle with one hand and using the other hand to poke inside it with a long, pointed stick.

Jesse! Leave the poor thing alone and get back up here at once! You’re getting mud all over your new sneakers! yelled his mother.

The turtle for the first time in its young life, immediately retreated inside its hard, protective shell. The boy began slipping on the mud beneath his feet and tossed the turtle up in the air to a grassy area between the rocky incline and the bridge. As he climbed to the top, still slipping occasionally on the wet surface, his sneakers became covered with mud. The turtle, landing with a thud on the grass and rock below him, lay motionless, not budging from him shell. The sense of danger was real.

Jesse James Joseph! screamed his mother. How many times have I told you to leave those critters alone! Now take off those muddy sneakers and get into the car.

Ignoring his mother’s commands, the boy jumped into the back of the car with muddy shoes, leaving a track of mud and sandy debris on the seat and floor of the car while holding the turtle in his hands. He placed the turtle in an empty yellow pail that laid on the floor. His mother didn’t know he was taking the frightened turtle home with him.

The boy lived with his mother and grandmother in a small apartment in a large city. (Not an ideal place for a wood turtle.) Life was not easy in the time the turtle spent with the boy. It spent most of its time sheltered inside its shell, scared to come out. It would have starved to death if it weren’t for the start of school and the thoughtfulness of the boy’s grandmother.

One day, after dropping the boy off at school, the grandmother began her daily chores of cleaning the house. As she collected dirty clothes and put away toys from the floor of her grandson’s bedroom, she heard a scuffling sound coming from the closet. She was unaware the turtle was making a desperate plea to be heard.

Armed with a broom and a wonderment of what could be making that noise, she quickly opened the closet door. Jumping back with a sigh of relief, she said to herself, What in blazes do we have here? That boy needs to stop bringing all of God’s creatures into this house.

Noticing how sickly the turtle looked, she picked it up, brought it to the kitchen, and gave it some spring water and pieces of fruit salad to eat while detaining it in a large rectangular plastic container. It was far better cry than the clutches of the boy’s hands.

After a while of observing, she noticed the turtle had gained some life back into its tiny body. The woman thought about what to do next with the scared, frightened turtle. She decided to take it to a safer place. She knew a little boy’s hands, and an apartment in a city was no place for the turtle to live. She walked down the noisy