Episode 2

The early morning sunshine warmed the old man’s bones, as he wandered along the old beachside road.  It wasn’t terribly far from his home, so even in his old age, he could still enjoy a morning walk along his favorite paths.  He’d been living in the same home, along the same stretch of road for all of his 83 years, and many parts of this beach had been his childhood playground. 

          As the old man walked along, he could recall the days of his youth, running along the sand dunes, building great castles with moats, and watching the turtles come and go, as they lay their many eggs.  Whenever they came, he would sit among the bushes for hours, watching their labor of love. 

          The old man had only watched the hatching process once, very early on in his life, and though he knew it was all part of life, he was so saddened by watching the birds gorge themselves on the innocent babies, that he’d never watched again.  Year after year, as he grew older, he would simply avoid the beach paths during that time.  Once hatching time had passed by, the old man would again, resume his beach walks.

          Some years back, as folks began visiting and watching the turtles, the beaches began to resemble a dirty playground.  Even after the local city officials began placing garbage cans throughout the area, the beaches were still littered with plastic drinking cups, food wrappers, and abandoned lawn chairs. 

          This disturbance to the area had bothered the old man so much, it stirred him to spend about a week each year, immediately after hatching had finished, picking up garbage from off the sand.  He knew it wasn’t much, but any help was better than no help at all!  The old man loved the beach a great deal, so even if his efforts were never seen or appreciated, he’d felt it important to keep doing it anyway… for the sake of the turtles.

          Over the past week, the old man had successfully cleared most of the beach along his stretch of road, and today he’d decided to pick up the remaining garbage from the tree line, nearest the roadway.  Discouragement filled his heart as he picked up trash that was sitting less than 10 feet from an empty garbage can.  It was as if no one wanted to even try!

          The old man wondered if his efforts made any difference, sadly taking in the scene before him, as he worked his way through the bushes along the tree line.  In all his years, he’d never once seen anything grow from the plastic laying about the beach, so it frustrated him to no end that others might carelessly drop it.  They had to know that it wasn’t going to magically disappear, or throw itself away.

          Oh well, he thought, at least most of it has been cleared away.  Aside from a few plastic containers, thankfully, there wasn’t much left to pick up this morning.  The old man was about to head home with the trash he’d collected, when he spied a small red plastic cup, tucked beneath a bush he’d walked past earlier. 

          Approaching the bush, the old man leaned down to retrieve the cup, exhaustion and discouragement filling his heart.  He wasn’t at all prepared, for the sight that greeted him, as he lifted the cup from off the sand.  There before him sat the tiniest of turtles, just staring up at him in awe and wonder…

What will the old man do?

Will our tiny turtle make it safely to the sea?

Tune in next week, to find out…