Turtle Rescue

At first, Stella thought the turtle was a seashell. Small and round, no bigger than Stella’s ear, the tiny turtle lay motionless in the sand.

- Charnan Simon

Then it moved its flippers, forward and back, forward and back, trying to crawl over the driftwood log in its path.

“Nana!” Stella called out. “Come quick! I found a baby turtle!”

Nana hurried over from her beach towel. “Why, so you have,” she said. “A brand-new loggerhead turtle hatchling.”

Stella reached for the tiny creature. “We need to put it in the water, where it belongs.”

“Wait a minute, love,” Nana said. “We need to help the turtle, but we have to do it the right way.”

Stella stopped. If anyone knew about sea turtles, it was Nana. Nana was special. “I’m a turtle trekker!” she would explain cheerfully to anyone who asked. Stella knew that meant Nana was trained to help sea turtles on the Florida beaches near her condo. Nana built little fences to protect turtle nests. She taught people to keep outdoor lights dim and to clean up trash that might hurt turtles.

When Stella was older, Nana had promised to take her out at night to watch a mother sea turtle crawl up the beach, dig her nest in the sand, and lay her eggs.

“Well, what’s the right way?” Stella asked. “You told me baby sea turtles need to crawl into the ocean right after they’re born, so they can swim out to sea, where the good food is!”

“That’s right,” Nana said approvingly. “Baby sea turtles need to crawl into the ocean—they don’t need to be carried!”

Stella was confused. “What difference does it make?” she asked. “The baby turtle looks tired! Why can’t I carry it?”