The "Nicky The Turtle" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Opened an old Reader's Digest that had been pushed under a chair in my living room.  Began to leaf through it when I came upon a story that had the top right corner folded under.  As soon as I began to read the story, I realized why I had folded the edge under!  The story I had bookmarked, by folding the page under, was titled "Nicky the Turtle."  And, then I noticed the line under the title of the story...Lancaster, PA.  Wow, the story came from my hometown of Lancaster.  The story had been nominated as the BEST PET PALS story by Georgene A. for this months issue.  The really neat story read:

When I first got Nicky, I was 10 years old, and she was about the size of a quarter.  We've grown together (I'm now 80 and she weighs 5 pounds), and she's been my best friend through it all.  Nicky lives in our backyard pond in the summer, and has her own room and filtered kiddie pool in the winter.  She's a yellow-bellied slider, but she's far from cowardly.  

Nicky

She's actually quite social and curious.  As the star of 'show and tell'  for four kids and eight grandkids, she cranes her neck out of her shell to get a good look at her fans.  Nicky loves munching on the tomatoes and pretzels the neighbor kids feed her, and she's even gutsy enough to steal a mouthful of dog food from time to time.  On her 50th birthday (these turtles typically live 50 years or more), we threw her a blowout party, complete with a gift any turtle would die for: her own in-ground pond.  She is a good pet and a better friend.  She keeps all my secrets.  Nicky was in my lap the day after my wedding and as we moved from home to home, and she'll be there till the very end.

So...what do you think?  Interesting story?  A bit strange?  Pretty neat that a story from my hometown is in an issue of Reader's Digest!  And...I thought it was a pretty good story!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.