Mr. Turtle’s Shell
Once upon a time there was a turtle. His name was Abel C. Turtle but everyone called him Mr. Turtle. Every morning Mr. Turtle would put on his hat and walk down to his favorite pond for a swim. One morning as he was walking he saw Squirrel and Rabbit talking by a tree.

“Okay, all you do is jump, grab the trunk and climb!” Squirrel said. Mr. Turtle stopped and watched. Rabbit jumped and tried to grab the trunk but slid down instead. Mr. Turtle shook his head and walked on.

“What nonsense! Rabbits can’t climb trees! He should stick to hopping.” He said. Mr. Turtle hated anything out of the ordinary or different. He walked along grumbling about Squirrel and Rabbit. Then he came across a small pond. He saw Raven and Fish. He listened.

“Just reach up and start flapping your fins. You’ll be flying in no time!” Raven said to fish. Fish flapped his fins but all that happened was a bunch of splashing. Mr. Turtle walked away grumpily.

“First rabbits trying to climb, now fish trying to fly?! Everyone knows fish can’t fly!” He said. At this point Mr. Turtle was very upset and was not enjoying his morning walk at all. Finally Mr. Turtle arrived at his favorite pond. He smiled. He was finally somewhere where everything made sense. He slipped his shell off and hung it on a nearby branch. He put his hat on top of it and slipped into the pond. Mr. Turtle had a nice swim, forgetting all about Rabbit and Fish trying to do things they clearly couldn’t do. After a while he was floating on his back with his belly poking out of the water when a slight breeze blew by.

“Brrrrrrrrgh. It’s getting chilly. Perhaps I should get out.” He said swimming to the grass. Suddenly just before Mr. Turtle climbed out of the pond, the wind blew his shell right off the tree branch! “Noooo!” Mr. Turtle yelled. His shell flew away in the wind over the trees. Mr. Turtle climbed out of the pond and looked around. He grabbed a lily pad from the pond and wrapped it around himself. “I have to find my shell!” he said and he took off after it. He walked past Squirrel and Rabbit.

“Hello Mr. Turtle. I love the new outfit!” Squirrel said smiling at him.

“You’re just making fun of me!” Mr. Turtle said.

“No, no! I actually like it! It’s different, nice!” he said. Mr. Turtle blinked.

“Oh well thank you.” he said and he walked on. Then Mr. Turtle came across Fish and Raven.

“Hello Mr. Turtle! How are you today?” Fish asked from the pond.

“Well as you can see I’ve lost my shell.” Mr. Turtle said.

“Oh, I hardly noticed.” Fish said.

“I rather like that look though Mr. Turtle.” Raven said.

“Thank you but I do prefer the comfort of my shell.” Mr. Turtle. Again he walked on.

“Who knew that something so odd could be so nice?” he asked himself. Before long Mr. Turtle saw his shell in the air. It fell and then came up again. He went as fast as he could to see what was making it do that. He saw a long pond with two crabs in it. They were throwing his shell back and forth to each other laughing.

“Hey! That’s my shell you’re playing with!” he yelled to them.

“Oh look Red! It’s the grumpy turtle!” one crab said.

“It is Claws! He says we have his shell. Should we give it to him?” Red asked as he threw the shell up in the air again.

“But we’re having so much fun!” Claws said laughing. Mr. Turtle had once told the crabs that they could never sail a boat and it hurt their feelings. They kept on tossing the shell back and forth.

“Give me my shell now!” Mr. Turtle shouted. All of a sudden Red crushed the shell in his powerful claws.

“Oh no! Mr. Turtle I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean to! It was an accident!” Red said. Mr. Turtle was so sad he didn’t know what to say. The crabs swam over to Mr. Turtle.

“We are really sorry about your shell Mr. Turtle. If there is anything we can do just tell us.” They said. Mr. Turtle saw something at the bottom of the pond.

“Would you please bring me that right there?” he asked. The crabs were confused but they dove down and brought up an old hermit crab shell. Mr. Turtle slipped it on and looked at his reflection in the pond. “What do you think?” he asked the crabs.

“It’s perfect! But I thought you didn’t like anything out of the ordinary?” Claws asked.

“I’ve learned that just because things are different it doesn’t mean that they are bad.” Mr. Turtle said. After that he marched back into the forest showing off his new shell.

The End