Dlu-Dlu looked around to his left, and he looked around to his right, and he saw his thick, heavy shell. And he knew he would be hot again today. And he looked down and said, “Oh, no.”
For Dlu-Dlu was a tortoise. A tortoise is like a turtle, except he lives in the desert, where summer days are hot — soooooo hot — and dry — soooooo dry. And living inside a thick, heavy shell means you will be hot — soooooo hot — on a hot day.
Dlu-Dlu saw that the sky was scorching white and the sun was blinding white. And he would find no relief, not even any shade. You see, Dlu-Dlu lived in an arroyo, which is like a narrow, steep-sided canyon carved by water in ages past, but the water was long gone, and Dlu-Dlu had never even seen water.
His friend Romzi, the coyote, came trotting by and greeted Dlu-Dlu: “Dlu-Dlu, if only you could run, you could make your own breeze and be cool. But you have a thick, heavy shell, so we cannot run and play.”
Dlu-Dlu looked down and said, “Oh, no.”
His friend Equis, the snake, came slithering by and greeted him: “Dlu-Dlu, if only you could crawl under the ground, you could find shade and be cool. But you have a thick, heavy shell, so you cannot hide.”
Dlu-Dlu looked down and said, “Oh, no.”
In the afternoon, the hottest part of that soooooo hot day, Dlu-Dlu heard a roaring sound far away, and the roaring grew louder by the minute.
Romzi the coyote came running past, and paused just long enough to say, “Dlu-Dlu, there’s a storm coming. Run as fast as you can.” And Romzi was gone in a flash.
The ground started to tremble, then grumble, then rumble.
Equis the snake poked his head out of the ground and said, “Dlu-Dlu, there’s a flash flood coming. Run as fast as you can.” And Equis was gone in a flash.
You see, several miles away, a rainstorm had broken wide open over a mountainside, and all the rain from that mountainside funneled down into the small arroyo where Dlu-Dlu lived.
The ground was shaking and the wind was howling, and Dlu-Dlu looked around to his left, and he looked around to his right, and he saw his thick heavy shell, and he knew he could not move fast enough to escape. And he looked down and said, “Oh, no.”
As he saw the wall of water rushing down on him, Dlu-Dlu pulled his legs and head inside his shell and shut it up as tight as he could.
With a crash, the wall of water pounded him down and lifted him up, sending him spinning and tumbling and crashing and bouncing and whirling and banging and … it seemed to go on forever … just thudding and spinning and tumbling and crashing and whirling and …
At last the rush of water died down, and Dlu-Dlu carefully peeked out of his shell. He saw shallow puddles of water all around him, and he felt a cool breeze on his face, and he took a deep breath of fresh air.
Dlu-Dlu looked around to his left, and he looked around to his right, and he saw that his thick, heavy shell had saved him. And he looked up and said, “Thank you.”
— Steve Brown