A Bedtime Story

The tortoise lived by himself in a tree.
He survived on the fruit in his home
And the smaller primates passing through.
He was hundreds of years old and remembered nothing
Except living in the tree. Which he did not know
Was on an island.
     Off the coast one day a shipwreck
Left a mother, father and daughter on a lifeboat
Until the daughter was caught and tossed by a wave
And deposited upon the beach. She was OK
And sat for some time on the beach by herself.
She was scared of being alone. She saw
Tortoises with small tails dragging in the sand
Higher up on the beach. They dragged their tails
Extremely slowly. She asked them some questions
But they didn’t respond to her. Bored,
She wandered into the forest that seemed
The majority of the island. Above her
She could hear rustling and grew fearful
That she was not alone. She saw the tortoise
on a branch,

who looked back at her.

She was unlike other things he had known.
He grunted in surprise.
The girl asked,
“Hello?”
The tortoise was further surprised.
“How come you can speak?”
“Excuse me?”
“You look cold. None of the other
Primates here can talk, though.”
“Well I’m
A girl. Though I learned that I think
Is a kind of primate.”
“Did you catch your fur
On a branch when you fell out?”
“Oh,
I am too scared of climbing trees.
My friend Alicia broke her arm
Last August in the Park by my house.”
“And where is your house?”
“Uhhhh
My Mom remembers but she’s uhhh
I think still in the ocean. We got knocked
From our cruise ship and I don’t know
Where they are now. Have you seen them?”
“If they look like you I have not seen them.
What is the ocean?”
“I don’t know. Around?
It is where the other tortoises live.”
“What?”
“The other tortoises. On the beach.”
“Oh I don’t know about that.”
“Well how
Did you get in that tree?”
“I don’t know.
I suppose I was born here.”
“Do you like it?”
“It’s OK. Its lonely sometimes.”
“Really?”
“I suppose I have never seen another tortoise.”
The girl agreed to introduce them.
The tortoise came down very gingerly.