I have company in my study: a pair of red-eared sliders.
These are semi-aquatic turtles that are quite green except for red stripes that extend back from their eyes. Right now they’re between 2 and 3 inches long.
Our daughter saw them at a shop in Chinatown in Boston, near her campus and was captivated. She bought them, even though she was suspicious that they might be illegal (they were). She named them Rene and Renee (a boy and a girl) and kept them in her dorm room (also illegally) in a plastic shoebox, underneath a desk lamp to keep them warm. She faithfully cleaned the water and fed them, but eventually worried that they were just getting too cold. So she brought them with her when she came home for Thanksgiving, to the great delight of the small children travelling near her on the airplane.
Now Rene and Renee are all set up in an aquarium which must seem like a tropical paradise. They have a heat lamp specially made for turtles, a water filter that functions like a waterfall, a floating rock to bask on, and many gallons of water to swim in.
Plus, they no longer have the stress of being illegal aliens. Instead they are citizens of our household. I’m expecting to see a growth-spurt as the surety of this new status sinks in. (See Ephesians 2:19.)
Oh, and our cat enjoys the new All-Turtle-TV.
TURTLES