Friends and family have heard of Natasha, the turtle that came for a summer and wound up living with us for the long run..
Fewer have heard of Sherman, the friend that kept Natasha company at the end, and then stayed with our family, much to the dismay of our children.
First, Natasha’s story.
Natasha first came to us for a summer when Natasha’s owner, Boris, went away for a few weeks. After turtle-sitting for July and August, we returned Natasha to Boris and purchased our own turtle, Gym (pronounced Jim). A year later Sparky came to join us and then Goethe (pronounced Goat) took up residence in a tank in Mike’s office at Stuyvesant H.S. Natasha returned to us for a longer stay when Boris went to graduate school in Sweden and Goethe joined them all for his first and only summer break. Sadly, Goethe did not survive the summer.
Over the years Natasha, Sparky and Gym cohabitated in a 50 gallon tank. Eventually Sparky and Gym died but Natasha lived on.
Boris returned from Sweden but claimed he could not take Natasha back because of his housing situation.
Our own children grew up and went to college, leaving the two of us alone with Natasha. Boris got married and had a child and claimed, when told that he was getting Natasha back as a pet for the new child, that he could not possibly care for a (tank bound) turtle as well as a baby and a dog.
So Natasha stayed. At one point it looked like Natasha was slowly dying. He spent all of his time on top of his log and wasn’t eating.
We went away for two weeks and found Natasha in the exact same position as when we left. When tapped on the shell, Natasha responded and so life continued.
I made jokes at work about running a turtle hospice because I honestly thought that Natasha’s life was nearing the end.
One evening we watched Natasha slowly slip off the log and plop into the water below. That’s it we thought … until Natasha started swimming about the tank and even ate!
Natasha lasted several more months until, one day he moved no more.
Ever respectful, we did not flush Natasha down the toilet (he would not have fit), nor did we dump him into the trash compactor. Instead, we solemnly walked to the Hudson river and, standing at the end of a pier, let Natasha slip gently into the water.
Thus ends the tale of Natasha.
But wait! I almost forgot about Sherman!
Remember those weeks when Natasha didn’t leave the top of his log?
Well it turns out that Natasha was being held in place by Sherman!
Who / what is Sherman? Sherman is our imaginary, invisible octopus!
Yes, Sherman has a back (and front) story and, with encouragement I might even share it with you.
Our children are somewhat dismayed to learn that we finally got a free roaming pet only after they grew up. Think of the fun they could have had with Sherman to play with when they were little. How much could have been blamed on Sherman.
Now? Sherman is just evidence that their parents are even stranger than they thought.
So let me know if you want tales of Sherman’s exploits.
– Devorah
