Our New Animal Friend

This is our friend Alvin. We named him after Alvin Straight from the Straight Story because he is very slow. He is a snail, after all. Kev discovered him on our porch floor on Friday morning. By Friday night, he had traversed the porch and made it half-way up the wall near the front door. On Saturday morning, he had made his way along the top of the wall above the porch railing, and then to the side wall near the porch ceiling by Saturday night. I was beginning to worry about Alvin, because there is no food supply for snails on our porch ceiling. I watched as Alvin went slowly in and out of his shell in his same little spot on the wall. I watched, and I fretted. I figured he was up there to die. So, enter our hero, Kev, who plucked the snail down off the wall and put him on the floor of the porch once again. I immediately went to the fridge for snail food, and came back with a leftover piece of grilled zuchini and a celery stick. Alvin didn't go for the celery, but he was all over the zuch. I'm sure he was wondering what he did to please the snail gods enough to deliver him to such a feast. This morning, I woke up worried about the neighborhood cats finding our new friend, and sure enough when I went outside, Alvin was gone. But I saw no sign of a struggle, so I assumed Alvin had his fill of grilled zuchini and went on his merry way wherever snails may go. I kicked the zuch and celery stick into the flower bed in front of our porch, and went off to the Great State Fair of Texas, which was big fun. When we got home hours later, guess what! There was Alvin on top of that piece of zuchini down in the flower bed! I am so happy that he found his way back to the food. So maybe there is a moral to this story, but I don't know what it is. Maybe it has to do with how paying attention can lead to good stuff. I am just happy to have a new animal friend.