Girl on the highway
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Sean of the South
Sean Dietrich
A little girl rescued a turtle from a busy highway.
This happened yesterday afternoon.
Moving a turtle is not a remarkable sight, really. It happens every day, somewhere in the world. Somewhere in the known universe, a rural kid moves a turtle off the highway. I have been that kid myself. Many times. Maybe you have too.
Yesterday, however, the unique privilege went to a little girl. She was maybe 12.
I saw her in the middle of the highway. She was flagging down traffic in both lanes.
It was a rural two-lane. In the wilds of central Alabama. Lots of mobile homes. Lots of pastures with cows. Lots of American flags on home-built trailer porches.
The child was standing in the middle of the highway, halting cars in both lanes, like a professional commercial air traffic controller.
Traffic halted at her cues. A string of vehicles was soon backing up toward the horizon – vehicles traveling both directions. The impromptu traffic jam was growing, too, accumulating more vehicles every few moments.
Among our friendly little gridlock, there were two log trucks, a few dump trucks, and cars of every size, shape, and partisanship preference. All stalled by the singular hand signal of a child.
The girl was oblivious to the danger that surrounded her. People die every day on those old highways. She was blissfully unconcerned.
The turtle was not a small creature. It was about the size of watermelon. She had to lift with both hands.
But first, she had to gain its trust inasmuch as the turtle was hissing at her. It had huge claws that could have severed an average human limb.
Several of us gathered around the girl to watch. She looked like a tough kid. A country girl. Like this wasn’t her first tortoise rodeo.
It took a few moments for the girl to win the turtle’s good faith enough that it let her pick it up. Then, she walked the massive thing to the edge of the shoulder and placed it into the grass.
And, well, that’s the whole story. Not a particularly exceptional one, I know.
Except that, everyone who got back into their cars had to stop to say something to the little girl as they slowly drove past her.
I can’t be certain, but I don’t think the motorists were scolding her, or saying things like, “You need to be more careful!” Or “You could’ve been hurt, kid!”
From the motorist’s body language I spied through their back windows – from all the thumbs-ups, and “okay” hand gestures – I think drivers were saying something far different to the girl.
Something like, “God bless you, sweetie.” Something like, “In a world that is so divided, so angry, so hateful, thank you for risking your life to stand up for love.”
At least that’s what this motorist is saying here.
