Flash fiction

Snail on sand

snail on the sand

Timmy and Babs were squealing as the ring traversed in an arc fell into the water.

“Tim! I told you guys not to play so close to water. Your ring may be lost.”
“Ok, Mom” Tim led the way up the beach and started throwing again much to his younger sister’s delight.
He watched when she suddenly bent to look at something in the sand.
“Look! Timmy, there is something moving here.”
“ Oh, that’s a snail stupid, it’s got a horn on top, you see?”

“It’s more of a shell Tim, than a horn” Dad just joined the kids for ring tennis.
“Dad! Where does he live?” Barbara asked curiosity shining from baby blue eyes.
“It has no home. It just wanders” Tim sounded all knowing.
“We will take him home Dad,” she pleaded.
Barbara started digging the fellow up, with a spade to put into the plastic bucket they brought.

“Babs darling, the snail can’t come home with us,” Mom said gently. She didn’t want to upset her daughter.
“Why not Mom?”  her eyes already misty.
“Because they are supposed live here honey, in the water, down in the sea is their home.”
“Won’t he die Mom?”
“No sweetie! You see he has a small house he carries with him. He can get in and get out whenever he wants. He loves it here as you love your home”
They watched the snail creeping out of the shell and sliding slowly on the sandy surface.
“It moves so slowly. Is that why my teacher calls Ricky a snail?” Tim remembered.
“Well, anyone who moves lazily is at a snail’s pace.”

The snail on the sand was what Tim and Babs talked about to their friends at school.


Word count:294