I honestly don't know what I would do with it anyway.

Got a late start this morning and once down to the beach I missed the sunrise because I was tracking baby turtles who had strayed in the wrong direction. Tracking them in the morning is so stressful for me as the little trails usually end with bird and cat tracks all around them. Fucking birds. Fucking cats. I keep kicking myself for going to bed early last night as the tracks came from one of the nests I am rather vigilant about considering it's right by one of my beach entrances. I tracked five or six of them with no luck and then I found two who had strayed off into the abandoned lot where I tracked my first lost baby turtle. It's the saddest thing, seeing their little tracks go in the wrong direction and loop about all crazy this way and that while they search for the "ocean" which is really a fucking condo. While in the lot feeling all bad for baby turtles who are most likely so very tired and starting to shrivel in the ever strengthening heat I saw movement and hurried over to find a little dude slowly making it's way to main street. It was not looking good but it was still keeping on so I scooped it up, and ran it down to dip it in some much needed water, while I contemplated what to do with it. Releasing them during the day is not the best of ideas as it's certain death with how they stick out like a sore thumb flapping about in the open water with little cover. And there were no seaweed patches out far enough that they wouldn't wash back in. Lucky for us both, the quad driving morning hour section of turtle patrol showed up while I was letting the little guy swim around in my cupped hands so I waved them down and asked what I should do with it. They filled a bucket with some sand, took the turtle, thanked me and told me that were I to find any more, call them so they could pick it up. They started stressing that I needed to call them because they had said the magic words "it's better to release them at night" and the general public can't be trusted with information like that after seeing all you need is a 5 gallon bucket and evening hours. They were using their firm voice, repeating the word endangered and looking a little uptight so I ended up calming them by using assuring statements like "we are on the same team" "what the hell would I do with it anyway" and "I have turtle patrols emergency number on speed dial not my black market dealer, you'll get first dibs, swear". After they had quaded the baby off to safer places in it's temporary 5 gallon home, I headed back into the lot to check for more. All I came across was a shriveled up dead one which did not disparage me because that one will now become a part of my dead thing collection. You know he's going next to the baby seal skull. Once headed back to my little home I started thinking... what does a baby sea turtle bring in by means of cash? It's not like it would be hard to figure out who to call, but I really want them to swim away and be forever the one out of 1,000 that made it.

In the emotionally charged rush to get him wet and find the quad riding turtle patrol I forgot to get a pic! It didn't look so great anyway. No time to fix the hair and makeup after a long, rough night don't you know.