Last Tuesday when we were at Ixtapa Island I found a very pretty snail shell in the sand right beside our table. As I am a bit of a shell collector I picked it up and threw it in my fin bag with plans to put it out on our balcony planter to let the ants come and clean out what ever might be left inside. Back at the apartment as I cleaned out the fin bag leaving shell on the floor of the balcony, I went to put other things away and when I returned the shell had moved to the other side of the balcony. That’s when I first realized that there was still a live snail inside the shell. Well since I had removed him from his normal habitat I thought it was simply a matter of a short bit of time and it would die. I left him out on the balcony tidied things up for the night and shortly headed to bed. Early the next morning I got up, moved my computer to the balcony, fixed my protein drink and sat down to write when I remembered the snail. He was no where to be found. I thought he must have made his escape out the drain-line as I couldn’t find him on any of the walls. I went back into the apartment for something and heard loud clang that sounded like Mexican coins hitting the tile floor woke up the Senior who sleepily wanted to know “what the heck I was doing” As he got up he found my snail by the bedside. Walking through the apartment I must have kicked him against the concrete bed frame and that’s what clanged. Active little fellow and he could really travel fast for a snail. So I put him in a Tupperware box assuming he would expire shortly. Thursday morning when he was still alive and confined to his tiny cage I began to feel a little guilty and thought about taking him back to the beach. That’s when the Senior explained to me he wasn’t a snail, but a hermit crab that had committed a home invasion of the snail shell and had devoured the former resident and had taken up residence inside the snails shell. Boy did I have a complete change of heart and decided he needed to be removed from the shell at once. But being a very tough little character he wasn’t giving up his life or the shell he stole easily. So this morning, I being a little smarter than him, moved him and his cage to the freezer compartment of the refrigerator and by now hypothermia is setting in. Upon his demise I’ll remove him from the freezer, let him thaw out in the sun and wait for the ants to clean out my shell. Mean time I’ll be checking the freezer to make sure he doesn’t escape. Still waiting for the internet to be installed. Signing off KO
Zihuathyme 