Francesca

She was walking past his office door one afternoon. Reese was irresistibly drawn to her....the way she walked, scurrying as if in a hurry, but somehow not getting very far. He opened the door to get a better look. Yes, she was a beauty all right.

It had been a while since he had seen, much less been this close to such an amazing creature. He reached out for her and had second thoughts. What about his wife? What would she think? He reasoned, "It is cold out. I'll just let her in to warm up a bit."

Her name was Francesca. She was trying to get somewhere safe to spend the night before it got too dark outside. She was hungry, too, not having had a good meal in who knows how long. He let her have the leftover strawberries from his lunch.

The more he stared at her the more enchanted he became. He couldn't put her back on the streets. Not that night. He just couldn't. So he called his wife on the phone. "Sarah darlin', there's a sweet little creature here at the office. She's tired and hungry and needs a place to stay. Should I put her back out on the streets? Or bring her home? I'm sending you a photo so you can see what I'm talking about."


"Oh, Reese!" I said, "Please bring her home! She can live in the pond with the fish."


And that is how Francesca the turtle came to live in our back yard pond.