Fiction Friday - Clarence's Adventure

Clarence was upset. He was tired of the rules at home. He was tired of the crowded chaos. He didn't want to pile on with his brothers and sisters - how many? He didn't even know. Clarence was too young to know how to count. 

Also, he was a tortoise. And tortoises can't count.

Clarence trudged away from the nest, trusting that no one would notice his absence. 

The nest was in a ditch near the river bank. His tiny turtle legs took careful steps up the grassy slope. Why was he going up? Because everyone else wanted to go down. When any of his many siblings edged out of the nest, they slid down into the standing water at the base of the ditch to drink, find food, or play. 

Clarence wanted more. He wanted to break free of the small nest, the frothing family, the daily sameness of it all.

Clarence was out for adventure. Slow and steady, he ascended the slope.

Halfway up, Clarence took a break. He nibbled on some plants, and saw a small bug nearby. As he was moving to stretch out his neck and snap it up, a long ribbon of a tongue flicked across his vision and nabbed it first. "Hey!" He looked around to see who he needed to challenge.

A frog was standing a little up the slope from him, and off to his right. "I was going to eat that," he told the frog, as he moved up to address the frog directly. "Too bad," came the reply. "You need to be faster." The frog squinted at Clarence. "Aren't you supposed to be down in the ditch with your family?"

Clarence realized from her tone that this frog was older than he was. Maybe she was his mother's age. Maybe she was a friend of hers and would tell on him! "I didn't think you owned this hill," was all he said.

"I don't." She looked him over. "You can relax. I'm not going to hurt you." Clarence smiled at that. Young as he was, he was bigger than the frog and had a hard shell. He wasn't at all worried about getting hurt. "I'm just surprised," she continued. "And take my advice: If you want the good bugs, you've got to be quicker to snatch them."

Clarence nodded, lost in thought. "Can you help me?"

"Me?" She seemed surprised. Maybe she wasn't a mother frog after all. More like a big sister. But it only took a moment's hesitation before she said, "Show me what you've got." Her eyes jutted to the other side of Clarence. "There."

He followed her look and saw a small beetle crawling out between two blades of grass. His head pulled back into his shell in a slow, deliberate move, until he judged his prey was close enough. Then his neck snapped out and he caught the beetle quickly and ate it up. He knew the frog would have gotten it if she wasn't teaching him a lesson.

"Not bad, kid," she said. "You have good speed. The only problem is that you don't have a long reach."

"What can I do about that?"

"Nothing you can do. Just find your food somewhere there aren't frogs to get it first!" She laughed and turned to hop away.

"Wait!" Clarence liked talking to someone who wasn't related to himself. "What's your name?"

"Tasha, kid. You?"

"I'm Clarence. Where are you going? Can I come?"

Tasha looked put upon and Clarence knew the answer. She was kind when she answered, though. "You move too slow for my taste. Sorry. I'll be over this way, though. If you catch up to me, say 'hi!' okay?"

Clarence watched her hop off over the edge of the hill. She looked back down once, and showed him the direction she was heading from there. "See you later kid!" And with that, she was gone.

Clarence was determined. He had a friend now. He had a goal. He was going to be the fastest terrapin ever, and catch up to Tasha.

It's FICTION FRIDAY!

Every Friday I write a new flash fiction piece. If you have a writing prompt you'd like to see turned into a story, just leave it in a comment.