Two True Fables: Part Two

(To read Part One, click here)

Nearly every 60s family had a turtle. Some flushed theirs down the toilet (resulting in an outbreak of sewer-dwelling ninjas). But our neighbors the Cartingers couldn’t bear to part with their too-big-to-flush tortoise Toby, and he eventually grew to be the size of a dinner plate.

There was no containing him. He would wander incessantly, so the threat of stepping on him was ever present–he was visibly nervous about living amid a herd of sneakers. So Mr. Cartinger drilled a hole in the corner of Toby’s shell and tied a length of hot-pink yarn to it. The other end he tied to the foot of the stairs.

Toby was now free to roam, and whenever anyone wanted him they would simply “follow the yarn.” Things went swimmingly. One moment Toby would be on the third stair and an hour later…