Fiona was smaller than most of her friends. Her skin was also still a bit blue and her shell a bit transparent. Her dad kept trying to convince her that her skin and shell would darken soon, but Fiona wasn’t sure that it would. Her friends all had their black heads and brown shells, but Fiona was stuck looking like she had only hatched a couple of months before. Most of her “friends” teased her about her looks, but she did have one good friend, who happened to also be one of her fifty three litter-mates, and two hundred and forty six siblings. Her friend was named Doug.
Doug and Fiona did everything together. They had been on countless adventures. All of Fiona’s best memories included Doug, like the time they snuck out during the sleeping hours and climbed the oak tree. They watched the humans wandering about for what seemed like hours before they accidentally fell asleep up there. Once they had followed one of the elders out to the lettuce garden. It was like a huge platter of food, just waiting to be eaten. They both ate so much lettuce that day that they ended up being too full to sludge fast enough to hide from the other snails. They were caught, brought home, and punished. But they were punished together, so it wasn’t as bad as it might have seemed if they were by themselves.
On days that Doug had to stay home and look after their siblings, Fiona would go out exploring by herself. That is how our story starts.
Fiona slid up the side of the ditch and perched on the edge, it was nice to get away from the constant thoughts of her family. The cool air calmed her mind and she just sat there for about a minute, not doing anything. Then she slowly began making her way to the garden. She was hungry and didn’t feel like letting any of her siblings see her eat, because then they would ask her to get them some food too. She just didn’t feel like being nice today, Fiona was tired of being nice. She had stayed inside under the protection of her dad and the burden of her siblings for too long now, it was time to explore and be alone. She was kind of happy that Doug wasn’t with her, it gave her some time to think her own thoughts.
Fiona slowly climbed up the wall to the strawberry bed and onto the soft dirt that made up the ground in the bed. There were ripe berries hanging all around above her head and they made Fiona even more hungry. She climbed up the stem of a plant and ate a big hole out of the big red berry. It was delicious.
When she had eaten all that could fit in her stomach, Fiona slid back down the stem and let her body rest on the freshly watered dirt. It was a nice and cool feeling, similar to the wind at night. As Fiona lay in the mud, she saw something red on the ground. It was a strawberry! This was the biggest strawberry Fiona had ever seen in her life, and it was just lying on the ground, ready to eat. This strawberry could feed so many snails!
When Fiona was tired and she wanted to go home, she slowly made her way back to the ditch. Everyone was asleep now. Fiona slowly approached Doug, he woke up as Fiona lay down beside him. Doug asked her where she had been. Fiona told Doug about the strawberry patch and the huge red strawberry lying on the ground. Doug didn’t answer, so Fiona asked if he was OK. Doug looked at Fiona with one eye, then retracted his eye again. He told her that Dad wanted him to leave and start his own family.
Fiona just stared for what seemed like forever. How could Doug leave her? They had always been together, what would she do without him? Fiona asked Doug when Dad wanted him to leave. Doug told her that Dad had said as soon as possible, maybe tomorrow. He wanted him to leave soon because mating season was approaching and Doug would need a good home before then.
Fiona didn’t know what to think. Then she remembered the strawberry. Fiona told Doug to follow her, and she led him out of the ditch. They sludged across the grass. She took him up the hill, all the way to the top where the greenest grass is. They weren’t allowed to continue past here, but they did. They ventured all the way to the house. Then Fiona got Doug to follow her again, and she led him to the strawberry patch, and into the freshly watered dirt, right beside the big strawberry.
The two of them ate from the strawberry together for a long time, taking breaks to digest and think about all the adventures they had been on together. They must have fallen asleep in that mud patch because the next thing Fiona knew she was waking up right beside the strawberry and the sky was very bright. The two of them slowly and silently sludged back to the ditch.
Later that day Doug was about to leave to start his own family. Fiona was the last thing he saw before leaving home. She had followed him on his journey. The two of them stopped when they reached the edge of the garden. Fiona had been told not to go further than this by Dad. Doug looking into Fiona’s eyes and she stared back into his, they both knew they would never see each other again. Last night had been their final adventure, now they were both on their own. They looked at each other for a long time. Fiona then went up to Doug and lay her neck up against his. They just sat there for what seemed like hours, but it still wasn’t long enough.
Doug told Fiona he needed to go before it got dark and Fiona didn’t answer. Doug looked back at Fiona one last time. Then he pulled himself together and left. Fiona watched him leave, and then stared off in the direction he had gone for a long time. Eventually she pulled herself away and slowly sludged back to the ditch.
That day may have been the last adventure that Fiona and Doug ever had, but they would always be together in their minds.
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