A little boy is asked by his father what he would like for his up and coming birthday.. a computer ...a mobile phone.... a mountain bike ?

the young boy to his fathers surprise says a tortioise
A tortoise? queeries the Father
Yes a tortoise replies the young lad.

The father scours for a pet shops for miles around and finaly finds one and yes it sells tortoises., although they are very hard to come by now as no body wants them nowadays.

The father returns home and gives his son the tortoise who is simply over the moon with it.

Three days later as the father is preparing to leave for work he looks at the toroise in its little hut .It is motionless. On closer inspection he discovers great blisters oozing on the underside of the tortoise the shell of which has broken and flaked away. The poor creature is dead.
Realising the loss his son will feel he dives into his car races across town to the shop and as luck has it get another just like the first and gets back home in time to swap them without the son knowing.

However four days later he notices the second tortoise in the same state, the shell flaking away and great oozing blisters on the poor creature and as the first ..dead.

Again he jumps in the car and races across town to the shop. This time he protests vehemently to the shop owner. He replies he has never seen anything like it and gives a replacement tortoise and refunds the initial payment as a sign of good will. The father gets back in time the second time and the son knows nothing.

Four days later the father looks at the tortoise and like the first two the underside of the shell has flaked away completely. and there is a mass of blisers ooozing gunge.

Again he takes the tortoise to the shop and complains . The shop keeper is mystified and explains that all his toroises are home bred and have been for the past twenty years and never has he seen anything like it. He phones other pet shops and they have never witnessed such a thing with any tortoise. The shop keeper gives the man his prize stud tortoise and goes with him to the house to view the situation. This time however the young boy has risen early and has found the hut empty and is in tears at the loss of his pet. He has been staring at the hut the door whic is open and thinks it has escaped just as the father and shop owner appear with tortoise number four. THe boys eyes light up at he sight of his pet. He grabs it fooled once again and delighted.
The father breaths a sigh of relief and he and the shop owner watch the young boy play with his pet.


VRROOOMM   VRRROOOM VRROOMMMM he shrieks as he pushes the tortoise over and over again across the gravel path .........