The afternoon we lost Teresa

To the most wonderful Tortoise.

Our Hermann’s tortoise, Teresa, is twelve years old, with a yellow-and-black shell and dark grey legs. One afternoon, she vanished from her garden enclosure. We searched under every bush while my husband kept saying, “She can’t have gone far.” Somehow, that wasn’t reassuring.

We eventually found her tucked behind a clump of grass, almost perfectly hidden. She hadn’t escaped at all; we had simply underestimated her camouflage. We checked the enclosure anyway, then took a photograph of her hiding place. Finding Teresa has become a regular garden activity.