The road to Richview Beach is narrow. One lane going in. And one going out back to the mainland. On either side of the road there is tall sweeping willows and dune grass and just past that a tiny barrier bay. If one were to walk the road they would be bombarded by stinging pests like green flies and ticks. They would be sickened by the smell of low tide. Yet the end of the road is grand resort, a getaway for the well to do. There are houses built several floors high, with various viewing decks and docks for speed boats.
People flock to this area for its exclusive ocean beach, and those who were lucky enough to have a beach front property were delighted by the magnificent view, and most importantly, their private slice of home. Rarely did outsiders make the trip to Richview.
And while the ocean has crisp blue water and that constant cool breeze that
causes the hairs on one’s skin to stand, the bay is more bog than open water.
The ocean is a haven for fishermen, looking for stripers, bluefish, makos, and even tuna if one went out far enough, the bay was stocked full of small flesh-colored skates and tiny sand sharks, inedible and frustrating to a fisher expecting a great catch. These fish ruled the bay, and rarely was any of their prey to be found in the water. The sharks would soon be feeding on their own. They would wait for a smaller, perhaps injured shark to swim near the surface, and snap out of the dense mud to snatch another shark unaware.
For a turtle, neither bay nor ocean offered any safe passage. The ocean was populated with schools of speedy dolphins and massive mako sharks that hunt with their razor sharp teeth propelled by a large sweeping tail to glide like a torpedo through the water. And the bay was full of hidden dangers.
Still, turtles are rare in the bay. There is too much boat traffic, and way too many sand sharks. However, one turtle broke away from its kin and swam all the way around Richview Island to cross over into the bay.
The tiny turtle was pregnant and although the ocean would have been ideal for laying her eggs, the bay would have to suffice. Unfortunately, the road into Richview cut into the bay, and on one side of the road there was nothing but jagged rock and tall grass and on the other a smooth sandy beach. The turtle would need to make a tough and arduous climb up the sharp rocks first. The heat pounded down on the brown spotted shell of the turtle. The climb was dangerous and risky, and the turtle would have to pause frequently and find a cool spot under a rock for shelter.
It would take the turtle three days to climb the rocks and reach the road. She was near death from starvation and exhaustion, and rather than push across the far road with scorching hot pavement she decided to wait under some tall grass for nightfall.
All day the turtle stared across the road. It would be a long walk ahead, across two lanes of traffic. The engines zooming down the road were a menacing threat thought the turtle, but a necessary one. The beach across the road would be perfect for birth. It would be safe, and the lack of strong beach waves would protect the turtles. She tried to not think about the dangers they would face afterwards. The sharks would be a constant worry for her children. But she was determined to take one step at a time, as her bigger concern was to cross the road safely.
The day would soon turn to night. The turtle was awestruck by the beautiful sunset she was witnessing. The sky was pink with streaks of orange. As a grown adult turtle, most of her life was spent underwater, and this was the only sunset she had ever seen.
As the sunset ended, and the moon rose, the loud roar of speeding engines would wane. Time was on her side and her path was clear. She mustered what remained of her strength and began her crawl towards the sandy beach.
Some time passed, and she had only gotten a few feet. Already a few engines shot past her, but she hadn’t yet crawled into their trajectory, past a yellow line that she was now approaching.
The turtle knew that after that yellow line that there would be no turning back.
So she continued on.
One small step at a time.
Suddenly, there was a loud roar.
The turtle only felt a slight pressure on her shell, and then, nothing.
Slowly the turtle wakes up. It’s nighttime, but everything seems to be a dark shade of blue. Slowly she turns around. She notices the bay, and the tall grass, and can see the mountain of sharp rock below her. It’s the same spot as before. The turtle was puzzled. Slowly she turned around once again. Her beach was in the same spot, but this time there was an inconvenient black rubber fence blocking her path to the other side.
So she crawled to the fence. It was impossible for her to climb over the fence. She couldn’t pull herself up on her back legs. Instead, she nibbled at it. It tasted terrible, after all the turtle was used to better fare like flies and tiny fish.
Right before sunrise, she had managed to chew her way through. It was now a race to the other side, to her safe haven. This time she got half way, and once again her shell pressed down on her and she would go to sleep…
And wake up once again, in the same spot near the jutted rocks and waving grass. Ahead of her, the fence she could still taste in her mouth was repaired as if nothing ever happened.
She pushed on once again, more puzzled than ever. She impatiently gnawed through the fence again, and would only make it halfway before another push on her back and the distinct sound of rocks tumbling and she awoke once more.
Every day, there was a jogger who braved the road into Richview. Loaded up with bug spray and already used to the smell of low tide mud, he ran back and forth. It was in the past few days that the small Richview town government put up an order to build a turtle fence to prevent the little reptiles from crossing the road. Too many cars were coming across the road, and no one wants their precious new automobile to be covered with the slime and bacteria that a turtle could leave on their tires and mudflaps. ‘It’s a shame’ thought the jogger. Every dad he would jog past the crispy and smeared remains of turtles, just looking to get to the other side.
However, he noticed that there was a small hole in the fence, at a spot with sharp rocks on one side, and a dirty muddy beach on the other. One blistering sunny day, he passed the fence once again and encountered a man in a dark blue jumpsuit replacing the small section of damaged rubber fence.
“Those turtles really wanna cross the road huh?” said the jogger nonchalantly.
“Tell me about it…pains in the asses if you ask me. I’ve had to come out here every single morning to fix the same piece of fence. They should just stock this water full of dogfish, the turtles are just pathetic.”
“Well we don’t want that…I won’t be able to let my kids use the water.” With that the man giggled to himself, a sort of pat-on-the-back-for-a-good-laugh giggle.
No comments:
Post a Comment