Nate the Great and the Tardy Tortoise

Nate the Great and the Tardy Tortoise

I, Nate the Great, am a detective. This morning I did not have a case to solve. I woke up late. I stretched. My dog, Sludge, stretched.

We looked out the window. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. A tortoise was eating. A tortoise was eating the flowers in my garden.

I do not own a tortoise. Sludge does not own a tortoise. Sludge and I rushed out to the backyard. The tortoise started to eat a petunia. A bite here. A bite there. He started to eat a daisy. A bite here. A bite there. I, Nate the Great, like to look at flowers. Soon there would not be any flowers to look at.

I stared at the tortoise. He was green. He had a thick shell. And a big appetite. He did not have any teeth. But he did good work without them. I knew I must take him away. But what would I do with him? “ You must live somewhere, " I said. “ You must have an address and a telephone number. ” I knew that a tortoise can live for a very long time. This tortoise could be a hundred years old. He should know where he lives by now. He started to crawl away.