HEYO JAMMERS
I'm so happy to present you my very own new blog!
And here's a story
Sorry It's pretty long!
Anyways, Jam On Jammers!
In
the Shell
My name is Green. I was born from an
egg in 1825 at the Galápagos Islands, a time when there were many tortoise
hunters. I didn’t understand why so many hunters searching for some tortoises
to feast on since I was so young. Though life as a tortoise was hard in the
1800s, I always had fun, munching on fruit and meal worms. I had fun rolling
around and playing games with my friends too. As I grew there were not that
many tortoises because of the hunters.
Then in 1834 I was munching on the
grass when I suddenly saw a ship coming my way to the island, I heard it was
called the Beagle. Afraid that it
meant that more tortoise hunters were coming our way, I quickly hid under a
bush with a hole to look out. Instead of seeing men with guns off the ship I
only saw one simple man, who wore a long coat and had very big brown curly
sideburns on each side of his face. Surprised, I crawled slowly out of my
hiding place and came forward to the stranger. I looked at the man wondering why
was he here. The man still staring at me walked around.
Stopping, he took out a long slender
ruler to measure my height. He studied some more on my weight, color, diet, and
life. As he was doing this he took out a small notepad, along with a pen, I
guess he was writing down the things he was studying about me.
Then I heard him say to himself:
“This could lead to something, maybe how humans came to Earth, animals turning
in humans instead of god making people.”
“Maybe, Darwin, maybe, the idea seems
a bit to wondrous.” Said someone behind him, “I’m pretty sure this case will
prove that really animals turned to humans.” Darwin said back “Your imagination
is getting too wild, god made people okay? So just try to get rid of the idea.”
“Okay, I will try to.” But I could
tell that Darwin could still be thinking of the idea he had in mind. After that
the talk they had they left.
Still thinking about the stranger, I
walked back to my shelter and talked about the stranger who was no hunter at
all but maybe a traveler. As I talked about him I got interrupted by a friend,
“He could be an undercover tortoise
hunter. Or maybe even a global weatherman.”
Still clueless, I decided to ignore
the thought of the strange man and ducked back into my shell. Seventy-four years later after the strange
man’s visit more people came to the island, none of them were tortoise hunters.
‘Maybe they are weathermen.’ I
thought. ‘But why would weathermen want to go to this island?’ Right after I
thought about it a friend behind me muttered
“Scientists,
Green, they’re scientists,” one of my friends behind me said. I looked up and
saw people at me and muttering words I didn’t understand. Suddenly, without a
warning, I was picked up by a dark haired man, who carried me in his arms as I
struggled to get out. But his strong arms made it harder to get out so I gave
up. As he walked he locked me in a cage and I was driven away from my wildlife
home.
Confused, I
ducked into my shell. Then the whole car went to a halt. The man picked the
cage up and I was back outside. I thought I was going to go back home again. I
couldn’t see so I couldn’t tell, but instead I was dropped off at a science
lab. I lifted my long neck out of the shell and crawled around. It didn’t feel
warm, but it felt cold and lonely. Looking up I saw a woman sketching out
something, maybe me, on her notepad. The she picked me up on the table and
walked around me, pointing at me, she said,
“Take the
tortoise to the zoo.”
“And why
should I?” asked the man,
“It seems to
need a little vacation from his wild home, anyway, just take him to the zoo.”
“So you told
me to bring this tortoise just for you to see and send to the zoo?”
“Yes, now
just take it too the zoo please.” The woman said impatiently.
The zoo: I heard about that place
from my friends, they said they trap you in a cage and you will never be free
again and all you got to eat at the zoo was cheese! How can I live there? How
come these people were sending me to the zoo?
Then I was sent back to the cage and
there I was, in the zoo. But instead of cheese feeding or trapped in cages, I
got a home with friends. And I got something better to eat than just fruit and
wet grass, I got fresh dry green grass to eat, mud to roll in and clean water.
Even though life in the zoo had more freedom, better food, and people feeding
me well, I still missed my other friends in the wild, where they got to see the
sky and where is was more spacious, while I had to look through a hole just to
look up and living in a cramped room. A few years later in 1901 I was put back
in the cage, wondering why, I let them take me. Then after a few hours of
driving, I found myself back into my wildlife home my friends greeting me by lifting
up their long hidden necks. I had a life of adventures, seeing a strange man
who might have made a new discovery, dodging a life of tortoise hunting, and
living at the cramped zoo. I am now an old tortoise and that was my story to
you.
By,
VERA T. J