In loving memory of Spret the turtle:
This turtle was one of my roommate's pets in college. We had two illegal pets that year, both courtesy of Cindy. Spret ("Terps," spelled backward) was a light to our lives in the darkness of college papers and exams, as can be heard in the insanity in our voices in the above video. He, however, would probably not have said the same of us, as he frequently tried to commit suicide by leaping to his untimely death from our coffee table. Well, maybe not leaping so much as walking really slowly toward the edge and almost falling off. This was how he earned the nickname Hamlet. The "Beware Attack Turtle" sign I attached to his aquarium was both ironic and sentimental.
Anyway, Cindy told me Saturday night that Spret died recently, probably due to exposure because the heat in her apartment was broken for a long time. We reminisced about the many times in bygone winters we would poke and tap him to make sure he wasn't dead when he was hibernating. We were glad he didn't respond the same way a pet bear might if woken from hibernation. The sign would then have been less ironic and more apropos. He would usually slowly open one eye, then the other, then shove himself inside his shell, much like me every single morning when the alarm goes off. Unfortunately, this time he never woke up.
Here's to you Spret, our scaly friend. We hope you are enjoying great fields of green full of tomatoes, strawberries and grapes. We will miss you!
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He lived a good life and enjoyed many tomatoes. Very slowly.
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