Michael Erhart
Sand Turtles is the story of a young boy, Miguel, who lives in a small fishing village in the country of Panama. He enjoys listening to his grandfather tell him stories about the sea. One day Miguel learns that sea turtles used to come to their beach and lay eggs. When he asks why he has never seen the turtles on the beach, his grandfather tells him that many years before Miguel was born, turtle hunters killed all the turtles and dug up their eggs. As he listens, Miguel sees the sadness in his grandfather’s face, and he decides right then that he will bring the sea turtles back to their beach. He then begins to work on his plan to bring the turtles back, and eventually other people help him with his plan, but will it work? Can a small boy really make large sea turtles come to his beach and lay their eggs?
Michael Erhart lives in Japan with his wife and two daughters. Before that, he resided in the Republic of Panama for 29 years where as a young boy he was first able to observe sea turtles while on fishing trips with his family. Later he began Scuba diving and was able to see the turtles on dive trips in both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. This is his first novel.
CHAPTER 1 - THE SHELL ON THE WALL
Miguel was very happy. He was walking with Mama and his little sister, Anita. They were going to his grandparents’ house. Abuelo, his grandfather, always had lots of things to look at, and he always told good stories about the sea.
Abuela, Miguel’s grandmother, was making dinner. “Abuela’s cooking always fills the house with great smells,” Miguel was thinking to himself as he ran up the street. When they turned into the front yard, Miguel and Anita could smell fresh bread baking and something else wonderful that Abuela was cooking for dinner.
Miguel ran into Abuelo’s arms. Abuelo picked Miguel up and spun him around in the air. He put Miguel down and they walked out to the patio. Mama and Anita went into the kitchen to help Abuela with the cooking.
Abuelo sat down in his old brown chair, and Miguel climbed up and sat in his big lap. As Miguel sat there listening to Abuelo’s first story, he looked around the patio. Abuelo had painted the patio the day before yesterday and had moved everything around.
Miguel saw an old rusty anchor, some wire crab traps, a couple of fishing poles, a large wooden paddle, and other interesting things from the ocean. Little boys like Miguel would love to play with these treasures in make-believe games.
Miguel then looked up on the wall where Abuelo kept a large set of shark jaws. These were from a big bull shark that Abuelo had caught a long time ago. Miguel loved to look at the jaws, with their six or seven rows of razor-sharp teeth. Each tooth had edges like a saw blade. It looked like there were hundreds of teeth in that shark jaw.
Miguel felt both excitement and fear when he thought about the shark and how Abuelo had caught it.
Suddenly, Miguel saw something new hanging on the wall beside the shark jaws. It was a large brown shell. It was bigger than any seashell he had ever found. “What is that?” asked Miguel. Abuelo looked over and saw that Miguel was pointing to the shell.
Abuelo stood up, walked over, and took down the shell. He handed it to Miguel. He said, “That is the shell of the tortuga, the turtle with the pretty shell that lives in the sea.”
Miguel was surprised. “It’s almost as big as me,” he whispered as he rubbed it with his hand. “Where did you get it, Abuelo?” Miguel asked in a very excited voice.
“I’ve had that tortuga shell for a long time,” Abuelo told Miguel. He sat back down in his favorite brown chair, and Miguel knew that a good story was coming.
“Many years ago,” began Abuelo, “there were lots of tortugas in the warm Caribbean Sea around Playa Cocos. They swam around looking for food, and they came up to lay their eggs in the warm sand on our beach,” he told Miguel.
Miguel wanted to ask what had happened to the tortugas, but he knew that Abuelo would answer that with his story.
“We would catch a few tortugas and dig up some of their eggs each year, but only a few. That way there would always be tortugas here at Playa Cocos. Then one day, many years ago, when your mama was still a little girl, some men came from the Pacific side of Panama,” Abuelo said.
“They were the tortuga hunters. They killed the tortugas and dug up all of their eggs to sell. The hunters couldn’t get all of the tortugas. A few of them swam away quickly and escaped. The next year, some tortugas came back, but the tortuga hunters returned and caught them all. They also dug up the tortuga nests and got all of the eggs,” Abuelo told him.
“The third year, a few tortugas swam back here, but the hunters were already here waiting. They caught the last of the tortugas. When the tortuga hunters finally went away, there were no tortugas left, and no tortugas ever, ever came back to lay their eggs in the sand at Playa Cocos,” he told Miguel with a sigh.
“A few days later, as I was walking along the beach, I saw a dead tortuga in the sand. It was the last tortuga that I ever saw on our beach. When I got closer, I saw that the birds, crabs, and ants had cleaned it, so all that was left was the shell,” he said as he reached over to the shell with his leather-like hand.
“I picked up the shell and carried it home,” Abuelo said as he rubbed his hand on the shell. “I shined it up and hung it on the wall so I would always remember the tortugas of Playa Cocos,” he told Miguel.
“Abuelo, do you think the tortugas will ever come back to Playa Cocos?” asked Miguel in a sad voice.
Abuelo shook his head slowly. “No, I don’t think they will ever come back to our beach. The tortugas know it is a bad place for them to lay their eggs. Now, they go to other beaches.”
Abuelo leaned back in his chair and sat thinking about the tortugas. Then he got up and took Miguel by the hand. Together they went in to eat dinner with the rest of their family who were waiting at the table. Miguel saw that his papa had arrived while he was outside with Abuelo.
Miguel leaned over and whispered in Abuelo’s ear. He said, “Don’t be sad, Abuelo. I’ll bring the tortugas back for you.”
Abuelo reached out and patted the back of Miguel’s hand. “I know you will, Miguel. I know you will.”
Everyone ate and talked, and talked and ate, but not Miguel. He ate quietly and thought about the tortugas. He told his abuelo that he would bring the tortugas back. This would make his abuelo happy. But how could he do it?
After everyone had finished eating dinner, Miguel was walking with his family to the front door. He ran back and gave his abuelo a big hug and again told him not to be sad. Then Miguel walked home with his family and went to bed, where he dreamed of tortugas on the beach.
