Mission (almost) accomplished

It was a weird day, the day that he decided to walk around the earth in one single day. It might not seem like a lot of time for such a big task but you see, he had turned eleven last month and therefore it shouldn’t be a problem. Mother had tried to talk him out of it. “You will ruin your shoes”, she had said but he hadn’t really listened to her. How many steps could it take? One hundred? Even two hundred shouldn’t be much of an issue.

Of course, he decided to take off at dawn. Probably, he would have reached his goal while it was still bright outside, then. And he decidedly preferred brightness. While walking around the earth in daylight seemed like the most delightful thing for a newly eleven year old to do, doing the same thing in darkness had an air to it that was much, much too gloomy. Thinking of it, a shiver almost made him tremble. Crossing the doorstep, he remembered something. He would probably miss lunch because of his mission. At that moment, his resolution faltered. His thoughts were running away. What could it be?

Mashed potatoes with the charming star shaped carrots? How he loved those carrots. It was a mystery to him how his father always managed to pluck them from the sky at lunch time.

Or could it be the warm and creamy curry that father always made when mother had a particularly stressful day? He didn’t love the curry as much as the star carrots but he loved that it showed that his father was a mind-reader. How else was he supposed to know when his mother needed her favourite dish most?

Well, he couldn’t possibly miss lunch. He could take off after just the same, couldn’t he? He would still be back before it got dark. How long could a hundred steps take, after all?

It turned out to be a good thing that he had waited because otherwise he wouldn’t have remembered to take Greg with him. With Greg at his side his mission seemed even easier. If he took half the steps and Greg took half the steps, they could easily be back in the afternoon. Well, probably he had to take some more steps than Greg, since a turtle’s steps were a littler shorter than human ones. But he was fine with that.

“Just see that Greg doesn’t get cold when you reach the North Pole”, advised his mother as they were just about to cross the doorstep. Of course she was right! Greg needed something to keep him warm. A woolly hat would do just perfectly. His aunt had showed him how to knit when she last visited. He could easily knit a woolly hat for Greg now, couldn’t he? Eagerly he sat down and started working. Rummaging through the cellar, he had found a basket filled with all different types of yarn. But which colour should he choose? An earthy, chestnutty brown? Sky blue with snow white stripes? A bright, fluffy pink? It took him quite a little bit of time to make up his mind on the stripes and to finish his work, too. But when he was done and let Greg try the hat on real quick (it looked dashing!), it was only starting to darken the slightest, tiniest bit. That was still enough time. Especially now that he could distribute the steps with Greg even in the colder regions.

Carrying Greg to the door (he was determined to not let the turtle take the first shift of steps), he remembered a last, important thing. Suddenly it presented itself advisable to him to take some sort of entertainment. Greg only liked talking now and again but he always loved it when he read to him. It made him purr like a cat rather than a turtle.

So, he made his way back through the kitchen to the living room where he stood before the grand, old bookshelf. Normally he would take a book from the left corner that his parents had painted green and red and yellow to symbolize that it was his. But today he wanted to try something more… meaningful. Something as grand and sparkly as the journey he was about to take. He stood on the tips of the tips of his toes and stretched his hand as high as he possibly could without permanently lengthening it. Without even seeing it, he grabbed a book that felt perfectly suited to his adventure. It was a thick and heavy volume and one of the books without a picture on the cover which made it feel exceedingly meaningful. With Greg comfortably seated on the book’s cover he made his way to the door once again but once again, too, he was stopped by an obstacle: The book was lovely but it wouldn’t do to carry it like that. It was way too thick and heavy. He needed a bag. Not to think that carrying it in his hand would delay his journey! He couldn’t let that happen.

Back in the kitchen, he opened the drawer right next to the fridge. They kept all their bags - from itchy, little plastic ones to big, soft ones made of colourful fabric - in there. He decided on one belonging to the latter category that was just a little bigger than the book and finally felt perfectly equipped to begin his mission. On the way to the door he filled the bag’s remaining space with two muesli bars - one for him and one for Greg.

And this time, he actually crossed the threshold and breathed a deep, expectant breath. He took a last look at the house and his eyes wandered around the front yard, the roof, the sky… The sky that had almost darkened! Was it really too late now? He pushed his decision from left to right in his head, let it turn around like it was dancing but finally decided that he had a certain responsibility as a turtle owner. He couldn’t let poor Greg walk in the dark. With a slightly disappointed sigh, he went back inside the house but his disappointment quickly vanished. They would just try tomorrow after school. It should be enough time, then.

“We almost walked around the whole earth today”, he proudly whispered to Greg before going to sleep.