Grandma Tortoise Slow Down

    Old Grandma Tortoise was the oldest one in the entire Shady Forest. She was so much older than everybody else that she told them all to call her Grandma. Grandma lived inside a big thick shell. She had dried cracked, wrinkly old skin. She walked very slow, had false teeth and glasses.

    Old Grandma Tortoise likes to do extreme sports. She likes to sky dive, snorkel and bungee jump. She can surf, go deep-sea fishing, and parasail. However, there is one thing that she has not tried yet, Grandma Tortoise has always wanted to skate board. She has watched it on T.V. but there is no concrete around the Shady Forest. 

    Sometimes Old Grandma Tortoise likes to take long walks, but they can be so boring, so Grandma puts her own spin on things. Grandma gets to the top of a hill, flips herself onto her side and rolls down the hill. Then, wherever she stops, she just walks back up the hill, and goes home. Grandma never knows where she will wind up, or how long she will be gone, it is much more exciting that way.

    One day while she was rolling down the hill, she changed directions and wound up outside of the Shady Forest. Grandma had never been this far down the hill before. Grandma found out that at the bottom of the hill, at the base of the Shady Forest, is where humans live. 

    Oh, Grandma was very scared. Carefully she walked around to see what the humans looked like. She saw two boys; they were down inside of a concrete pond, but there was no water in it. Grandma did not understand why they were in there, until she saw the skateboard. Then she remembered all the skateboarding that she had seen on TV. 

    Grandma watched very carefully.  She saw that they each had a helmet, kneepads and elbow pads. They looked like they were having a lot of fun. 
    When Grandma got home, she bought kneepads, elbow pads. Grandma also picked out a very nice skateboard; it was baby blue with clouds all over it, and a matching helmet. 

    It has been very dry in the Shady Forest, and the ground is very much like concrete, so Grandma picked out a nice clearing where the grass is short. 
    A few of the animals watched Grandma as she walk down to the clearing wearing knee pads, elbow pads, and a helmet that matched her baby blue skateboard with clouds all over it.

    The small crowd followed, to watch Grandma. She got up on her skateboard, gave a big push with one foot and she was off. 

    The skateboard took off as if it had been shot out of a gun, but without Grandma. Grandma flew up into the air, & crashed down to the ground. She scraped a huge spot on her leg, just below her kneepad. Her arms and legs went inside her shell, she flipped onto her side and she began to roll down the hill.

The crowd gasped in horror, as they screamed, 
“Grandma Tortoise, SLOW DOWN !!!”

    Grandma Tortoise rolled down the hill, faster than the time she got struck by lightning. She rolled way outside the Shady Forest to where the humans live. When she stopped, she took off her kneepads, elbow pads, helmet, and left her matching skateboard beside the concrete pond without water.  

    Grandma was happier up in the Shady Forest, so she left all her Skateboarding stuff at the bottom of the hill. She took that long walk back to the Shady Forest, bandaged up her leg, and said that she would get all of her skateboarding on TV from now on!