Editorial August 13, 2001 Issue

Hannah and health

Michael A. Seek

It was Saturday afternoon, and the shops in Cottbus had already closed. No traffic noise invaded, no breeze moved. A cat found shade under a shed and dozed just like Aunt Margot.

Suddenly a cry pierced the stillness. "Margot, come quickly. Hannah is gone!" In an instant, aunt and cat were at the fence, and the neighbor recounted breathlessly that Hannah had been missing for a while. Margot immediately began to search, combing the area between the gooseberry bushes and the strawberry plants. But Hannah, the neighbors' tortoise, was gone.

The search was just as hopeless on Sunday. Finally, on Monday, Margot had this thought: If searching doesn't help, listening might help. So she sat down in the chaise lounge in the middle of the garden. Not too much later, she heard a timid scratching. And the scratching continued.

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