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Thatwhich

Don't dis my ability

We don't know why Churchy only has three legs. To be fair, it's really three and a half. He came to us this way, and he doesn't like to talk about the past. Or anything. On the other hand, he is a really good listener.

Maybe it was a fox or a hawk that nipped him. But as I mentioned before, he moves really fast so he got away. My husband's cousin found him on the family farm, and gave him to Keith as a pet. They figured a 3-legged turtle wouldn't last long in the wild, so Churchy was a rescue animal.

Keith thinks Churchy is about the same age as my son, which makes him around 17. Makes sense. Churchy has the know-it-allness of a 17-year-old boy-man (no offense to either of them).

Churchy seems unaware he has a disability, that he's an amputee, as it were. Maybe it's because the missing limb is in the back, and he can't see it (especially in August, when he's stuffed to the shell with tomatoes). He tears off across the garden or the floor like he's on a mission from God. I read an article about a turtle in Brazil who was missing a front leg. A veterinarian removed the other front leg and super-glued a little wheel in place of the limbs. Church would hate that. Besides, I'm not ready for him to be driving.

Like Churchy, I have my physical disabilities. Mine are from a car accident many years ago. Like him, I try not to pay too much attention to what might otherwise hold me back. If Churchy notices a slight limp in my gait or the remnants of palsy in my hand as I drop a sun-gold mini in front of him, he doesn't say anything. He's just not like that.
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