Match-maker

"Do you want another pet?" His voice was excited and quick.

"Uh, what is it?" I responded aprehensively.

"A Sonoran Desert Tortoise."

"YEEEESSS! I've wanted one of those since we moved to the desert!"

And so it began.

Desert tortoises live to be, like, 80-100 years old. Here in the desert people let them roam their yards as pets, but have to build a winter burrow for them to hibernate. There is actually an adoption and foster program for pet "custodians" who are moving in and out of the state. If they can't keep their tortoise anymore, the foster group will find them a new home. They cannot be released back into the wild once they are a pet and let's remember....they live to be 80-100 years old. This time of year is their "active period", so we see 2 or 3 everyday.

Ben pulled up and brought the tortoise inside in a box.

I wanted to name him Archibald.

Ben wanted to name him Ironhide, since he is a life-long Transformers fan.

Hayden wanted to name him Turtle.

After some serious consideration, we decided we could not keep him. Archibald Ironhide Turtle needed to have a family. He needed to continue on his quest for companionship, that we so abruptly interrupted.

Before releasing him back into the wild we let him roam around the house for a few minutes. I think he liked it. He also liked it when we rubbed his feet.

We put him back in his box and I finished up dinner: Homemade "Tomato, Alfredo, Potato, Chicken, and Rosemary Pizza" from scratch (with a Quinoa crust, fresh-cut, home-grown Rosemary, and topped with grated parmesan cheese). It was going to be glorious! As I started to pull the pizza stone out of the oven, Hayden exclaims, "Mommy! Look, Turtle is gone!"

In a second, I left the door open and turned away from the oven, hot pizza stone in hand. Knowing that tortoises are climbers, I frantically checked the box and all the corners...nothing. I yelled, "Ahhhh! It's gone!" to which Hayden responded by yelling and running around the dinning room. Just then, the phone rang. While I'm holding the stone in one hand, closing the oven door with my foot, and spinning around searching for the escaped tortoise, Hayden grabbed a ringing cordless phone sitting on the table. He put it up to his ear and said, breathlessly, "Hello, Bob the Builder? Turtle is gone!" Not knowing who was on the other end, I threw the pizza stone down onto the stovetop and grabbed the phone away from Hayden's ear. Checking the caller ID, I realized it was Ben.

"Did you take the tortoise?"

"Yes I did. Relax." He didn't have to say relax, I was instantly relieved.

While driving out to the spot where he found Arichbald Ironhide Turtle, he slammed on the brakes when noticing another wayward tortoise along the dirt farm road. Ben stopped and set Archie down next to the new tortoise, watching to see what would happen. Archie went over and snuggled up to the other tortoise. Together, they sat cozily under a cactus as Ben drove away.

Had Archie found his companion? Maybe it was meant to be.

"So long, Archibald Ironhide Turtle...Fare Thee Well!"