Turtle Tom

Turtle Tom

I've got the worst name in the world. There is none worse. My name is Tom T. Terdle. Pretty dumb, huh? I don't have a middle name, only the initial. It has something to do with my grandfather and his father's father. And, my first name is Tom-not Thomas, just Tom. It lends itself to all kinds of things, all of which are pretty mean. People, all kinds of people, call me all sorts of things. I haven't had one teacher who hasn't laughed after calling my name on the first day of school.

It usually goes like this: “ Robert Miller?” “ Here! ” “ Becky-Sue Porter?” “ Here. ” “ Tom T. Terdle?” “ Here. ” “ Does the ‘T’stand for ‘The, ' as in ‘Tom The Turtle'? Heh, heh, heh! " Groan.

I've heard that every year and sometimes twice. That's because my dad has to move around with his job, and one year I went to three different schools. I'm in the fourth grade, and already I've gone to six grade schools. Every time we move, I have to get ready for the stupid names and a fight or two.

This time my dad was transferred to Port Aransas, Texas. We had been living in Utah, and at first I thought it would be really cool to live on the ocean. Port Aransas is on Padre Island, which is on the Gulf of Mexico. It wasn't what I expected. Because the water is protected, the waves are pretty small, and the water is warm. The land is warmer than the water, and when we first got here it was hot. I mean really hot!

If that wasn't bad enough, Texas schools start in the middle of August, so I didn't get much of a vacation. I didn't meet any of the other kids in my class until school had started. By now it was too late to meet anyone. I would probably get into another fight.