Turtle and Hawk is a story about friendship. It was conceived at the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic when, like many people, I was living in an apartment with my immediate family and only communicating with the outside world electronically. I found it a welcome relief to be able to return to the world I had created for my Turtle stories and again imagine lying on a rock in the sun with a cool breeze blowing across the water. And very contrary to my reality at the time, to entertain. For when “the doorbell rang” in the story, Turtle simply wandered over to a sandy beach and met an old friend to share an hour of conversation with someone outside his bubble.
Perhaps more to the point, I spent a lot of time thinking about the nature of friendships and how they develop. For over the months of isolation, it became clear that a lot more was involved in that level of intimacy than a welcoming smile, shared interests, and a compatible sense of humor. For me at least, the longer I was isolated, the fewer people I was willing to share my time with. Something much deeper was obviously in play.
And so I found myself returning to my old friends Turtle and Hawk and speculating what had initially brought them together. At first glance, the obstacles to their friendship seem practically unsurmountable. They do very much come from different worlds. Yet somehow, each saw in the other something to which they connected. And they felt it strongly enough that they were willing to take the risks necessary to bring it to the fore. How was that possible, and how does that relate to us now in a world so scarred by mistrust?
I have been living with this story for almost three years now. Other projects have come and gone, but this one has continued to evolve. And I can say it has been a gift to spend time with it. We can never quite know where the road will lead us, and this journey has been no different for me in that regard than any of the others. Though perhaps it has contained a few more surprises, for I had no idea of the gifts that I would find along the way. I hope that you can find the time to experience some of them as well.
Briefly, the story unfolds as follows.
When we meet Turtle, he is living on the riverbank where he was born. A small, sheltered plot of land, protected from the worst violence of passing storms, but still plagued by yearly spring floods and summer droughts. His life has its challenges, but his real dissatisfaction there is in his lack of companionship. He seems to live a different world filled with observations and thoughts that those around him do not to begin to comprehend. One day while foraging, he discovers a deer track leading away from his home, and impulsively, he follows it. Thus begins his journey, one that will take him miles away from his home. He is cautious, and he is probably lucky, but he proceeds without incident. Until one day he is confronted by Hawk. She has been following his progress, and appears before him on his path, claiming to want to understand the nature of his journey. Turtle remains wary, and despite his interest in what she says to him, he puts her off. If she is serious in her desire, he ventures, it will be easy enough for her to find him. He continues on his journey, and again, more by luck than anything, he discovers a pond in a secluded valley, and feels that he has found the new home that he has been looking for.
We pick up again looking at Turtle’s travels from Hawk’s perspective, and we learn what it was that so interested her in Turtle’s journey. She is as aware of her perceived threat as Turtle is of his constant danger, and we discover what care she takes to approach him without posing an obvious threat. And from her entreaty to him, delivered while stuck in a muddy stream bed, we learn much about both of their perceptions of the other. When Turtle leaves her, he passes her the means to escape her bonds, for he understands much better than she the situation she has actually placed herself in. And we leave them with anticipation of their next conversation.
Action now moves to the pond where Turtle has taken up residence. It has proven to be everything he could wish for, and he is building a new life there. A life Hawk intrudes upon, again asking to explore their apparent connectedness. Turtle is still hesitant, but there is something about her that he cannot just let go of. Conditions are set, agreements made, and ultimately Turtle agrees. And strange as it may seem to those around them, they arrange to meet and enter into a regular dialogue.
It is while speaking together one day that the subject of rabbits comes up. Hawk has previously agreed to never hunt near the pond, but when Turtle expresses his anger with a rabbit that appears across the pond (for having devoured a patch of asparagus he had his eye on), Hawk appears to lunge into the sky to pursue the perpetrator. The rabbit falls all over itself attempting to escape, and Turtle and Hawk dissolve in laughter. In the moment, Turtle completely lets down his guard, and turns his back on Hawk. When they both realize what has just occurred between them, they fall silent, for things have apparently changed between them in ways that neither of them had anticipated.
As autumn approaches, we find them speaking together with less reserve. No longer trying to preserve secrets that the other might use to their advantage, they now look to each other for support and understanding. For the first time they are willing to describe their personal weaknesses, and fears. A bond grows between them that is unusual in their world, where so few have the time and the consciousness to delve so deeply into their own lives. Their communication continues throughout the fall, lessoning only as both prepare for the approach of winter and the separation that it will be forced upon them, but with the promise of renewal in the spring.
We end with a postscript. Turtle is daydreaming of flight one day, when Hawk appears behind him. She has seen something and wishes Turtle’s perspective on the matter. For not the first time she has come to hear her friend’s words, and we are certain that it will definitely not be the last they that share their perceptions of the world together.
The friendships that inspired this writing are still going strong, whether interrupted by occasional hibernation or not. They are the most beautiful, and demanding of arrangements, and they are after all what got me through the pandemic, and the troubles we all continue to face each day. I world not give them up for the world.
The book is now available as a print on demand title from Barnes and Noble, Inc., at
barnesandnoble.com