Turtle Trouble

This was an icebreaker assignment I had in English class last year. You are supposed to guess what random object I'm talking about. The first person to guess it right who is not a member of my family wins glory, honor, and respect.

Here goes:

Perhaps the most interesting of all the creatures I came into contact with during my Earth-mission was a sort of odd, turtle-like creature. It was smaller than my earthling’s shoe, was covered with a hard, black shell, and had a long, skinny tail. It’s glowing red eyes frightened me at first, because they were unlike any eyes I had ever seen. They were always changing shape, and never blinked or slept! I think my earthling thought it was dangerous. At any rate, he anchored its forked tail into the wall so it wouldn’t escape.
After a while, I discovered that the little turtle was unlike any turtle I had ever seen. Every morning it tried to communicate with a shrill cry, stopping only when the earthling whacked it on the top of it’s shell. The earthling would then rush off to work, leaving me to try to comfort the poor turtle. It was unresponsive. Perhaps its tail was uncomfortable crammed into the wall like that.
I began to feel sorry for the poor creature, pleading for mercy every day only to be slapped for it’s pains. So, late one night, I released its long, forked tail from the wall.
The poor little thing dropped off to sleep at once, it’s glowing red eyes closed in peaceful slumber. It must have been very tired. I slept well that night, knowing I had done the right thing.
Late the next morning, the little turtle creature was still sleeping comfortably, but this time I received a rude awakening from the earthling stomping all over the house and yelling. Apparently he had overslept and was late for work, but I don’t see how that could have been my fault.
Tomorrow I go back to Mars. The earthlings are too quarrelsome for my taste.