Leaping over the Wall

 

I’d noticed the plastic bag next to the wall in the garden and had dismissed it, thinking it was nothing more than a bag that had escaped from the nearby bin bag.

It was there the next day too.

And the next.

I’d already put the black bin bag out on the front when I caught yet another glimpse of it. I went to pick it up.

That was when I realised it was full of lettuce, tomatoes, water cress and cucumber. They were all kinda warm from the sun.

That’s when the penny dropped and I remembered what my neighbour had said, ‘I’ll put the bag over the wall for you,’ she’d said.

I glanced at her windows, all the blinds were down she was on holiday…and that bag full of food had been waiting several days for me.

Panicking, I chopped up the food, and rushed back outside. I jumped over the wall balancing a plate on which there was a rather warm, hastily prepared salad.

Then I went in search of the beast… that was probably on its last legs.

The beast I was supposed to be looking after.

I search the overgrown garden and eventually…

I found it.

Still alive.

Just

But it was barely moving.

I placed the food in a heap in front of it, and it lumbered exceptionally slowly the few centimetres it had to move to reach it.

And the look in its eye!

But what else can you expect from a tortoise!