Mrs. Astrid Feldman’s third-grade class in Southern California (Fullerton, Calif., to be specific) gave her Thumper as a present 15 years ago, and he has been a class favorite ever since then. Every summer, he travels around from student to student, and he was just about to return to school for the fall when it all happened.
We couldn’t help but feel bad for Thumper, the Russian tortoise. It was the day before school, when he would return to being a class pet — thump, thump, thumping against the glass tank, hoping the school year would end quickly and he’d be released again.
So we let him out into the garden, just for what we were hoping would be 20 minutes. He went to his usual spot, burrowed halfway in the mulch and settled down to relish his last day.
About five minutes later, a woman came, checking to see if we knew that there was a tortoise in our garden. I peered out of the window, and Thumper hadn’t moved.
So why, come 20 minutes later — when my Mum finally managed to put the phone down to my Nana — was he gone? We stirred the soil — nothing. We poked the soil — nope.
So I eventually said, “Maybe he just got scared of us and burrowed a little deeper. Give him a minute.”
Well, a minute became a day, then two, and by then the whole street was aware: Thumper was gone.
We raked back all the mulch in the garden — nope. Searched every hole in the garden next door (sorry about that!). All the neighbors came and helped. Even Mrs. Feldman, Thumper’s true owner, came and had a look.
“Well,” I said, “how far could a tortoise get in half an hour?”
We had one more option: Nancy, the Sniffer Dog (aka Nancy, my friends’ dog). Well, so much for that. Nancy is no good at sniffing out tortoises.
And now he’s gone.
If only Thumper could thump loud enough for us to hear him now. Maybe then we could find him.
If you find Thumper, please contact Mrs. Feldman at (206) 252-2084 or Cara (my mom) at (425) 301-0576.
Oh, and please, if you ever see a hare, ask when his last tortoise race was!
HANA CURPHEY, 9, is a fifth-grade student at John Hay Elementary School.