{"id":482,"date":"2009-03-25T20:41:28","date_gmt":"2009-03-26T03:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/?p=482"},"modified":"2009-04-21T19:58:51","modified_gmt":"2009-04-22T02:58:51","slug":"story-the-shell-shocked-turtle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/2009\/03\/25\/story-the-shell-shocked-turtle\/","title":{"rendered":"Storybook: The Shell Shocked Turtle"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Artie Knapp (USA)
\nthe author has an excellent story site: Knapptime Stories<\/a>
\nillustration by Kevin Scott Collier<\/a><\/em><\/span> <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cOwen, you\u2019ve got to come out so we can get a move on!\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Owen knew his sister was right, he was still too scared to come out of his shell. You see, Owen was a baby turtle who had recently experienced his first thunderstorm. And ever since then Owen was afraid of everything! And when I say everything, I mean everything; chirping crickets, little field mice, the moonlight; even the slightest bit of wind rattled Owen\u2019s shell. The lightning bolts and thunder from the storm still haunted his dreams. Just thinking about it made Owen tremble!<\/p>\n

\u201cOf all the eggs that mamma laid, we\u2019re still the only two who haven\u2019t reached water yet,\u201d said Owen\u2019s Sister Shany.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, but I just can\u2019t do it,\u201d said Owen.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on Owen! You can too. This is just something you have to face. There\u2019s going to be tougher things in life to deal with than just a little storm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a little storm; you call that a little storm? The lightning bounced off my shell for crying out loud!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I must admit it was amazing to see, but it did bounce off of you Owen. Why are you so afraid now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere there\u2019s one there\u2019s bound to be another,\u201d said Owen. \u201cMaybe next time the lightning bolt doesn\u2019t bounce off me! Then I\u2019m a goner!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook Owen, if we don\u2019t find a pond soon we\u2019re both going to be goners. And besides, the chances of you getting struck by lightning again are probably one in a million.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, which means it could happen,\u201d said Owen.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight, and I am going to be Miss Turtle USA,\u201d said Shany. \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to trust me Owen. Since you were the last egg to hatch, I have to look after you. That\u2019s the rules! You\u2019re after all, my baby brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hatched forty seconds before I did,\u201d said Owen. \u201cWhat makes you so grown up?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not all grown up. But like it or not, I am still your older sister. And unlike you, I\u2019m not afraid of everything under the Sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shany laughed, and laughed, and laughed some more. She laughed so hard her shell nearly fell off. But even Shany\u2019s laughter wasn\u2019t enough to get Owen out of his shell.<\/p>\n

\u201cNice try. But I\u2019m still not risking it,\u201d said Owen.<\/p>\n

As Owen made his stance clear to Shany, a little turtle named Roxie walked up to ask for directions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello! I hope I\u2019m not disturbing you, but could you please tell me where to find Pike Lake?\u201d<\/p>\n

Owen had experienced lightning first hand, but he had never felt electricity like this before. To Owen, Roxie was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. And for the first time since the big storm, Owen didn\u2019t feel afraid. Without hesitation, Owen popped out of his shell to offer Roxie assistance, but then felt too shy to say anything to her. Shany pointed to where she believed Pike Lake to be and asked Roxie if she wanted help finding it. Roxie appreciated Shany\u2019s offer, but said she was battling a cold and didn\u2019t want to get them sick too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be too hard to find,\u201d said Roxie. \u201cThanks for your help and I hope we\u2019ll meet again someday.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Roxie walked away, Owen felt empty. Even though Owen hadn\u2019t said a single word to Roxie, he knew he had to see her again. And that thought alone turned Owen\u2019s emptiness into joy!<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see Shany, I\u2019m not afraid. I\u2019m out of my shell and nothing will ever scare me again,\u201d said Owen gleefully.<\/p>\n

But before Owen could utter another word he was being held by his sister. Owen had jumped right into Shany\u2019s arms upon hearing a loud thump!<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it now Owen?\u201d asked Shany.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I just heard the most awful sound in the world. The sound of thunder! Another storm must be on the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

A couple of giggles followed by a loud ornery laugh could be heard close by! It wasn\u2019t thunder that had frightened Owen; a little squirrel pounding rocks against a tree was what had scared him.<\/p>\n

\u201cKid, are you sure you\u2019re a turtle and not a chicken?\u201d asked the squirrel.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t tease my little brother,\u201d said Shany. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with being afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat? I heard you laughing at him earlier too,\u201d said the squirrel.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, but I only tried to get him out of his shell,\u201d said Shany. \u201cI didn\u2019t try to scare him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m not afraid of storms and all I have is a bushy little tail,\u201d said the squirrel. \u201cWhy, if I had a shell like his I wouldn\u2019t be afraid of anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw you running away from a stray cat yesterday,\u201d said Shany.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, so what,\u201d said the squirrel.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were scared to death of that cat, but that cat didn\u2019t scare me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you saying?\u201d asked the squirrel.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody gets scared sometimes. Why is my brother being afraid of thunderstorms any different from your being afraid of a cat?\u201d<\/p>\n

The squirrel knew that Shany had made a good point, so he just shook his head and darted out of sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow! Thank you,\u201d said Owen. \u201cYou really are a great older sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I said before, Owen, that\u2019s my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know sis, I\u2019ve learned something today; I may not like thunderstorms, but being afraid of them isn\u2019t something to be ashamed of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s right little brother. And it takes courage to know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Owen and Shany journeyed to find Pike Lake, Owen felt proud about having gained the courage to finally leave his shell. Throughout his life Owen would encounter many thunderstorms to be sure, but none were as scary as the first one. That\u2019s because Owen never looked at them the same way again! And oh how he loved telling his grandchildren about the summer lightning bounced off his shell! But don\u2019t take my word for it, just ask Roxie.<\/p>\n

THE END<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“The Shell Shocked Turtle”<\/span><\/em> Copyright \u00a9 2007 by Artie Knapp
\nAll Rights Reserved <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Artie Knapp (USA) the author has an excellent story site: Knapptime Stories illustration by Kevin Scott Collier \u201cOwen, you\u2019ve got to come out so we can get a move on!\u201d Even though Owen knew his sister was right, he was still too scared to come out of his shell. You see, Owen was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childrens-stories","tag-artie-knapp"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1403,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions\/1403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}