I was given a crazy writing prompt a while back, in one of my job applications. I didn’t get a call, so I have no idea what they were looking for…but they asked me to pretend I was a turtle, and write down some thoughts in a few short paragraphs. I thought my story was clever (and it was even based on a true story!) but maybe they didn’t want my turtle to sound like Crush from Finding Nemo…

Well, one day…I was just floatin’ along, all alone…thinkin’ about life and fish and stuff…you know? I was chillin’ out, just off the coast of those islands where the humans wear those colorful sea anemones around their necks.

So I’m just floatin’ along, mindin’ my own business, when outta nowhere, I see this dude! Like a human! He’s got this weird thing covering his eyes and a green stick in his mouth…and flippers! Who’s ever seen a human with flippers?! So this dude, he’s swimmin’ around and I’m floatin’ and he sees me and I see him. Dude is like 10 feet away & just stops and looks at me. I didn’t know what to do, man…so I stared back. We like, totally locked eyes and I realized somethin’ crazy: This dude had kind eyes. Like he wasn’t lookin’ at me like he was hungry or anything…he looked like he wanted to be friends. Man, I’ve never thought that about a human before. They’re usually pretty rambunctious in these parts, kickin’ around and messin’ up the sea…just being disrespectful, right? But not this dude. We had a connection. He got it. Got me. Just lookin’ at me.

And you know what? That human, he gave me hope. Like I could feel the love through that clear thing over his eyes. So…I dunno, man…but maybe not all humans are bad. This dude…he cared about nature; about us. I could feel it. Maybe there are others out there like that, too.