Turtle Attempt

I quickly put together a 7 sentence paragraph as Brad suggested relating to our friend the Turtle. I did this in less than adequate time, so I'm not totally happy with it but I wanted to post it up here as a jumping off point, and I wanted to encourage everyone else to post some ideas as well. It really did help me grasp a more realized character arc, though, and I can see where other parts will evolve from this process. So here goes:

1. Our protagonist, a humble turtle, is slow moving but well meaning; if he could have his way about things, the Turtle would just go about his own business at his own pace, which tends to be quite hesitant.

2. The Turtle lives in the desert (along a sparsely populated road), which he finds unbearably hot, but realistically he can't see himself putting up the effort to actually move himself somewhere cooler, so he stays.

3. On an exceptionally hot day, with the sun mercilessly beating down on the desert terrain, the Turtle lies comfortably underneath an umbrella by the side of the road, when a truck passes suddenly, blowing the umbrella away from the Turtle and across to the other side; the Turtle finds himself unprotected from the blazing sun.

4. The Turtle is now faced with the decision of staying where he is, in the heat, or attempting to cross the road and retrieve his beloved umbrella; a decision to cross the road means fighting his own hesitation and the possibility of death - but the shade is worth it, so the Turtle decidedly begins to cross.

5. When trying to cross the road, the Turtle faces speeding trucks, other leering animals, and ultimate spatial confusion: caught in a whirlwind of speed and hesitation, he finds enough bravery to make it to the other side.

6. The Turtle, now abundant with pride at his own bravery, looks around defiantly at his new surroundings, ready to take on the world...but the umbrella has somehow been blown back across to the opposite side of the road, where he began.

7. The Turtle now finds himself in a new place (physically and mentally, having overcome his own hesitations and fears), but once again without the umbrella. It ends with him again frustrated, but this time capable.

So the umbrella came to mind because I think it would be simple enough to portray the sun being really effing hot, but it doesn't have to be a truck that blows it across the road. I wanted to focus on the Turtle - and only the Turtle - so I omitted other characters for the most part (except maybe some leering). But it could be the goofy prairie dog that steals the umbrella and carries it across, or a bird, or whatever. That would open it up for some other gags - but the heart of the matter in this case is that the Turtle has lost his comfort and must face his own hesitations to retrieve it. Again, I want to see what everyone else can come up with, so try out some ideas here - that's what the blog is for.

And thanks to everyone for the interest in doing this, I feel pretty good about actually being able to make something worthwhile here.