Page 21 - Tennessee 811 Magazine 2018 Issue 4

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e and Dtllard rolled lo the flzsl plate, why would you have to s-wtng the paddle at the turtle tn an
‘en. alligator turtles. a lanat rope tn tlte boat? ettort to eontnnee htm to swtrn north,
[Some f}<‘:lk.s ealled 'etrt And m the “and Flam who mm when to the mtdst at a rntghty s-wtng
ogger ends. All l knew hts reet sltpped out horn under hurt and
stand up and twtrl a rope around and
£02 sure was that tltey were htg old out of the boat he fell. worse yet, he tell
throw tt wtthout falllng out of the boat’ .
turtles you'd see swttrtrntng around tn ' tnto tlte rtver where the aiorcmcnllunsd
the saltne RN21’ tn southwest Arkansas. And tn the tlttrd plate, lfyou eould, alhgator turtle was
it‘ seemed ohvtous to R 10 year old boy why tn tlte name of romtrton sens-e MW folks know about km Hiking
at you would not wantto catch one would anybody wrmllo rateh the V I A d 1 d ‘h
and es-peetally not pet one of them. I world's lttgges-t alltgator turtle in the °“ M 2“ Hi‘ I ’‘’,"'§‘ “(V B Eh
had already shook hands wtth lots- ol flzsl plate? :‘“l“:’f‘“ ° d°P“_‘ ’ C’; T I :1‘ “
foupfingnmd older folks around tlte D M h D H d d‘ d‘’ ’ V °”"3‘T‘ d‘-‘F “’k‘f ““_ ‘h
raver. wlttle we were putttng Dillard’: ‘ ‘““‘“l‘°“‘ “‘ “ “"‘; ‘ha’ “‘ m“Yd‘“ “I >‘f“lk' ‘" lj“ ‘;’L:’‘ h“
01 d flat ‘mom M“ m the “my um aokcld furlt te lartat mpcd laxs he higsrt trlk rganl Cl|f\‘\:‘h onhwa ;r;t‘t’ ‘ a e
01 d guy Mung 0“ ‘hr bank SM [0 mm twtr tng tte rope aroun tts ea , at wa e a o a er an t e er.
whtle adtusttng his cap with two angers ‘2;°°‘u“;‘ E’°“‘1’1’f‘!_‘l’°“‘ 1"“5“" “’ mg“ well the turtle dtd finally go on about
and a nub, that tr ”cm2 of them old ““ “‘ h ‘L‘’'’‘ ' hm” ‘_“ :‘“L“}:‘‘‘$1“ “’ whatever turtles do, the boat dtd eonte
loggerheads ever on you, they wouldn't ‘W “I” “ °“‘ “° “ ‘°”‘“ “'h‘““VV to rest on the bank near where Dtllard
turn loose 'ttl tt tltundered " I looked if?“ ‘_‘"3““‘kW"‘b"";;"‘i“5 5"“ 2 stepped off the water onto dry land. we
up and sure enouglt, there wasn't a L}“F{5“”‘ * I °“d ‘E "'f “U ‘f‘ ""“*‘ gdf“ pulled the boat on the bank and walked
rloud tn the sky. l reasoned even then h L “’P“ ““ “I P“ ““ 3 “°““ “ the short dtstanee to hts- ltouse through
that uxpezlcncc .-omettrttes preeeded “jg; nfikduff W “"*,§"*°' ~“§PP-"5 the woods. The only sound. heard were
wtsdorn. ’ “ ~"“ “ “’“°“ “"‘“’“ the lands, the oeeastonal harktng oia
“eh We m 11“ bottom of Dmardlfi flat He began to swttrt away, pulltng the aqI1l|rII:l‘,‘al'lld the aqlXl.~.}Ilrldg(1i)f Dlllr1xld's
bullom boat aoattng dawn the aver Euaéflfier um» Dlllhm‘ ft“ I113’-fa: lW°d°°°b‘ *“PP"‘5 “P “" “W” "‘ “°
toward hts house. we were lhmwmg a l“’d "’ ‘:““’lP“ ““ ‘$1 “f; ‘E “‘ E“ ‘E’ W ”'
ltne tn the water from ttme to ttrne, hut a:'1“1h“|;“’ “““’v:h’,:’“ fl““'l‘1 M wtthout breaktng strtde or tut-ntng
mostly Dtllard was potnttng out the > g fl ‘.5 E 3’ ‘ D.“ d around, Dillard said to nte as tr to make
plaees where he had eaughttoe saeks $P“ "3 h ‘PlP‘“g " "}“‘Y1""‘“ d‘ 1"‘ sense uiwlmlhad tust happened, ”Nt:w
full ornsh on othersuoh trtps. blvpidti °“gdY°§'?r cg apps Sm tn, ,1“, gm mm ,0 you ~
tg o or e tn te aee. pparen y,
l was tust lytng there ltstentng to unroptng a turtle ts- rnore trntattng than "Which lemon?” l asked.
hts great stones, watohtng squtrrels roptng a turtle so, the turtle stopped
runntng around on the bank tlttnktng swttrtrntng away lront the boat and 3*“ °“’PPf“'k‘“"‘““ “}:‘f“““_“‘l‘i“ b““‘
to myself that we ought to be talktng swam dlrvxlly tn the dtreetton of the W’: ‘° "1? "‘“l‘“d‘ ,ED“Y“,‘ “ 1
about honttng trtstead of its-htng rause of his u-rttatton Now, l dldn'l “"‘P “M” > “P ‘“ 'h, °“ ‘ “"“‘ ‘,"°“’
today. when Dtllard, tn a hushed but hear tnuste playtng, hut Hmvl: a greater “ 1”“ ’°P“1“‘,,"j;“}“1‘ ‘"5 V“: d‘’“ ‘ d
urgent vuitc s-atd to me, "Cet rny lartat appreetatton for the ”]aws" thetrte song gag: ‘° ““‘“ "d “ °;“ “Q”: “E “d” /
rope, we spotted the world's htggest “ ““ ‘““““ “’°‘"‘ “" ° °‘ "3
amgammnk ,, Thathtg old alltgator turtle seemed toward home lnodded s-tlently. Dtllard
tntent on eattng the boat one bite at a was a very wtse rnan Expcrlencc was
well of eourse, l got the rope But tn the ttrne. Dtllard hollered, "ctve me the definitely not wasted on htrn. .
so years since the great turtle s-tghttng paddlel C|\’C me the paddle" He began
I've been made to wonder a few tlttngs
em emu Yzrvlessszflll . 19