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The Trail of the Snail
A Story Every Day in 2024 7th March 67/366
I dedicate this story to Charlie.
***
Just at the moment that you're born, so is a snail. And so begins a relentless pursuit, a race between molluscs and mammal. Snails may look like they are aimless meanderers but this is not the case. In truth, they are the harbingers of death, and their trails, whilst seemingly random, all lead to one person: the person to whom they have been linked from the day of their arrival on Earth.
They are dogged in their assigned quest, moving in on their human mark. They look slow as they leave their silvery lines over our paths and flowers, sometimes appearing to go in circles or back the way they've come, but this is part of an extremely well-devised plan, executed with precision and an attention to detail that would boggle the mind if only we could all communicate.
How do I know this? Because of a very strange incident that occurred. It involved, you guessed it, a snail.
I was gardening one day, planting some bulbs for spring colour. It was misty and the ground was damp, perfect for snails traversing tricky grounds as the moisture aids their passage.
I was kneeling near the border when I noticed a snail heading my way. I was undeterred by this, although I toyed with picking it up and tossing over the neighbour's fence. In hindsight, this would have been a very foolish thing to do and not just because Mrs Evans was on the patio next door, doing her crossword.
There was something very determined about the way that snail moved. I wasn't surprised when I found it near me. Luckily, I was constantly moving and so was it, trying to get closer. Several times it altered its course until I stood up, thinking to tread on it. That's when I noticed that on the patio slab, spelled out in the mucus tread of the snail was the word "DIE".
"How extraordinary," I thought. "A snail that spells!"
I looked down at the encroaching mollusc, nearing my boot and decided to squish it, death threat be damned and immediately, dropped down dead.
Take my advice, reader: beware the snail that malingers and heads your way!
Or die!
***
366 words
You have my youngest son to blame for this piece of surrealist nonsense from a conversation we had on the school run where he said "What if there was a snail that was born at the same time as you and they just followed you wherever you went and if they caught up with you, you died?"
He's his mother's boy.
Thanks for stopping by. If you do read this, please do leave a comment as I do love to interact with my readers.
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Comments (9)
My favourite part of this is Mrs Evans on her patio with a snail wailing through the air towards her... and that didn't even happen! 😁
No no, boy's not wrong. I actually read about that somewhere. Like we have to spend our whole lives running away from it. Okay did some Googling and found it. I'll leave the link in the comment below
This was such a fun engaging read! Loved the premise and the source of the inspiration for such a story!
Why, what is that? Could that be a snail I see peaking around the corner? Wait! No, don't go! Drat! Not even my death snail wants to have anything to do with me!
Super
This is a delightful tale (tail?) although as reapers go the snail is hardly grim. Slimy Reaper?
Such a creative story!!!
Lol, I liked that one. Fun and humorous to the imagination. Well, up until the next moment I see a snail of course XD
That was an unexpected ending. A snail who is a grim reaper in a snail form . Captivating story