I had my first little green turtle for a long time – a year or two. He rode with me on the #7 train and was my little companion. I gave him milk baths, and my friends and I used to let him out of his aqua-condo (the little tub with the plastic island and palm tree I kept him in) to crawl around the house, with careful supervision of course not to let him stray underneath the heating baseboard.

One day, alas, a schoolmate came up to the house to see my new bike and accidently knocked the tub over with the turtle in it. I was so sad. He was a goner. Broke my heart to say good bye. Two weeks later I had another couple of little green turtles, Heckle and Jeckle, but I really loved my other little guy the best.