Stupid Thing of the Week

I have a couple of turtles I bought with me from Los Angeles. They're easy to take care of and occasionally fun to have around. Two nights ago, my niece was over for New Year's. I asked if she wanted to feed the turtles, and she agreed.

She went over to their habitat and said, "Uh oh. One of them is dead."

That was bad news, so I came over, but of the three turtles, two were swimming and the other was sitting on the rocks. "They're slower in the winter, just sleepy," I told her.

"Too bad," she said, "Poor dead turtle."

But it clearly wasn't. Its eyes were closed, but its head was moving back and forth (probably smelling the food). "It's just not eating," I said, "That doesn't mean it's dead."

"Uh huh," she insisted.

"You sure?" I picked it up to show her that its legs moved. I set it down, demonstrating that while it was more lethargic than the others, it was clearly alive. "Why don't you look again?" I asked.

She looked closer. "Yep, it's dead."

Well, that irritated me, and I can't really say why. "Okay, thanks," I said, "I'll finish feeding them myself."

Today, I changed the water for the turtles. Sure enough, the damn thing was dead.

Rish