Nanny And Turtle

What has a nanny got to do with a turtle? You might ask.

Everything! After reading the following story, you'll understand why.

My 11-year old nephew Ray has always been an animal lover. He’s had cats, ducks, golden fish and turtles. If he is not living in an apartment, according to Joan, my sister, he would have had dogs.

At the moment, his pet is a turtle. Sadly ...

Last night Joan came home from work. To her surprise, she found that her recently employed live-in nanny was having dinner already, which was most unusual.

‘What are you eating, Ma?’ She asked.

‘Oh, I should tell you that the turtle died. I must have overfed this poor thing… I’d given it a lot of shrimps. And the next minute, it was dead!’

Standing there and watching what was in Ma’s plate, Joan started to shiver.

‘I thought that turtle is very nutritious, so I cooked it... It‘s very tender, do you want to try some?’

Stunned and speechless, Joan was still trying to comprehend what had just happened to his son‘s pet. This morning, the pet was still alive and now, it’s dinner...

Although a little upset, Joan knew that the important thing was to find a solution, rather than getting angry. Besides, it took her a lot of trouble to find this nanny from another province. she asked Ma to imagine what Ray would react when he returns home and finds that his turtle is no longer here.

Ma seemed suddenly realised that the turtle she was eating was actually a pet of her employer’s. The 52 year old nanny from the countryside started to worry. Very quickly she found a solution and offered to go to the market the next day to hunt for a replacement turtle. She was quite clear with the criteria of this turtle she would be looking for - a similar sized one, so that Ray wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Fortunately, Ray is having a holiday in Yu Nan province at the moment with his father and won’t return home until next week. At least she’s got some time to sort it out.

I was quite amused and couldn’t help laughing, when Joan told me this story today on the phone. At the time we were talking on the phone, she told me Ma was out hunting for a turtle. They’d already worked out a lie to Ray, say if the new turtle is bigger and Ray asks questions. They would tell him that the turtle has really grown during the short period he’s away, which he would probably believe.

‘What if the turtle is smaller?’ I asked, out of curiosity.

‘We’ll tell him that the turtle has given birth to a baby and died during labour. But the baby survived.’

...

I haven’t heard a joke like this one for a while, which made me laugh my tears out.


By the way, here's a picture of Ray. It was taken last year while he was in New Zealand. His two articles: 'My holiday in New Zealand' and 'My aunty's cat - Coco' were selected and published in a children's story book.