Descriptive Essay ---- My Tortoise   

My family has a precious baby. He is a tortoise. His name is Ah Tor. Ah Tor entered my family when I was a primary three student. He was as small as a five-dollars-coin at that time. As eight years passed, he expanded and now he is as large as my hand. His shell is a round stone; its surface is uneven like a mountain and it is tough that even a drill cannot make a hole on it. There are dark green scales with yellow lines, which form a pattern of football on the shell.

Ah Tor’s hands and legs, tail and head are in Oliver green with yellow lines. At the end of each leg and hand are four nails in black. Each nail is like the one on a witch’s hand. But the tail is like a mimosa that always hides under the shell. It is interesting to look at Ah Tor’s head. His two eyes are as tiny as two rices. His nose is two very tiny holes, which cannot pass a toothpick through. Under his nose, there is a thin white line that is Ah Tor’s mouth. From the first day I saw him until now, he always smiles. It seems that he is very happy and very satisfied with his living. It is a kind of smile I cannot find on any other tortoises.

For the past eight years, Ah Tor lives in a red round basin in my home’s toilet, with water covering his whole body. Besides having expansion of his body, Ah Tor does not have much change. He still likes eating very much. He usually eats twenty particles in a meal and three meals a day. But in summer, he has better appetite that he can eat twenty more particles in a meal! My father is in charge of tidying and feeding Ah Tor. Every morning, when my father opens the toilet’s door and takes the first step into the bathroom, Ah Tor will row as fast as a motor. And Ah Tor will look at my father with his eyes full of hopes and he will smile at my father. He is like a child begging his father for candies, “Father! Father! Give me candies!” Hundreds drops of water will then fade out of the basin. When I feed him, I always make fun of him. I will hold the food in my hand and move my hand over his head. Ah Tor will become the trained monkey in the circus. He will chase my hand and circle for three or four times, clockwise or anticlockwise. Then I will give the food to him.

Although Ah Tor likes to eat very much, he is not overweight since his hobby is climbing. How do I know that? Because I could hear “Crack! Crack! Crack!” when I go into the toilet at daytime. He always climbs and climbs by the side of the basin with his hands using all energy and liters of sweat, making out the “crack” sound. His target is to climb out of the basin. Sometimes he uses his legs as well. However, the basin is like a slippery dip. So Ah Tor only succeeded of getting out of the basin for three times in the past. Most of the time he can just put his hands on the edge of the basin, standing with a pair of tiring eyes to rest. At that moment, he looks like a miner who has worked for a whole day. After resting for a while, he will slip down and continue the climbing again.

At night, when I go to toilet before sleeping at around half past eleven, Ah Tor is usually sleeping. He gets used to sleep at around ten o’clock. It is a very lovely moment. His eyes are covered with white curtains. Usually he hides his hands under the shell but stretches his both legs that float on the water. And the rest of his body is in the water. He is like a sleeping baby lying on the bed at that moment. Sometimes when I stay longer to observe him, there are bubbles coming out from his nose. His head with the covered eyes then rises up above the water as slowly as a snail does. He will then take breath and lower his head. Everything is in silence. And the environment is in peace and harmony at that time.

For me, Ah Tor is a small baby although he is at least eight years old. Every time I see him, he smiles at me and I will smile at him. Looking at his movement has become an usual when I go to bath or toilet. And I am like a parent looking at the growing of my child. He has become an indispensable colour in my home now.