I once wrote about seeing snails at the library courtyard - click here to read the post. But that's certainly not the only place in my town where you can see some snails.

When I was in elementary school, there were some snails among the bushes. I can't remember too clearly what I had done to them in the past, but I am sure it was not something particularly nice. (Even now I still don't treat bugs and such critters very well...Someday they're all going to take revenge on me.)

One day, when I was walking home, not that long ago, I heard this cracking noise. I looked back and saw something crushed on the sidewalk. I fear it may have been some unlucky snail slowly making its way across the block, only to be squashed under my mighty foot.

To avoid another occurrence, I kept my eyes on the ground in front of me. Unfortunately, that didn't work either. I was late to realize that the light had changed and that it was time to cross the street since I was being looking around for snails.

On the weekend, my mom told me that there was a snail in front of our house, so I went over to investigate. I took a few pictures of the snail. Then I attempted to prod it with a stick so it would shrink back into its shell and I would be able to move it somewhere else. (I had hoped to be able to keep the snail as a pet, but I didn't know how I would take care of it...I don't even know what snails eat.) But the snail kept trying to stick its head back out not long after each time that I poked it. I guess it realized that I wasn't planning to kill it after a while. I managed to get the snail to crawl onto a fallen leaf (well, it was really more a clump of needles, like what you would find on a pine, fir, or something of that sort) and moved it to a pot that was not currently being used to grow a plant. But when I went back outside later on, the snail had left. Besides some trails on the ground (from when it was wandering on its own, undisturbed by me), there was no trace of it.

It really goes to show that "slow and steady wins the race". Despite their slow, slimy, oozing way of moving, they can still sneak off if given the chance. They're pretty stealthy after all. But in the end, it isn't enough to save them. Snails are cooked and eaten by people. It is a sad fate (and also one that I cannot comprehend).

Labels: accident, death, destiny, distraction, elementary school, fine dining, food, house, library, moral, moving, pet, post, revenge, skills, snail, sneaky

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