I
will forever remember finding a particular envelope the week after Christmas while
sorting through odds and ends and putting away decorations and writing syllabi.
I
thought the paper envelope was filled with some sort of fragrance beads, so I got a glass bowl,
opened the envelope and shook them out. A bunch of yellow beads fell out,
accompanied by about 50 tiny assorted seashells mixed in with tiny beads.
I spent the better part of the afternoon
admiring each one of them and then placing them in to a spiral pattern in the
bowl. I loved each of them.
The seashells tell a story about creatures effortlessly
– almost helplessly -- creating beautifully perfect geometric art that they
leave as their gift.
These creatures did not have the choices
of being kind and helpful – or did they?
Am I underestimating them? -- but still they found a way to be generous.
I
suddenly want to know more about the communities of whatever these are but oh
wait. I am dumbstruck. Entirely.
I am
a grown human being and I do not know what to call the creature that lived and
died and created seashells.
Are they snails? I’m thinking snails are land
things.
Snails are like Gary on Spongebob. Wait, is Spongebob really under the sea? Is
Gary a native underwater sea snail or is
he from above the water like Sandy the Squirrel and does that explain why Gary
meows? I want to look this up but stay
on track.
The creatures that made these seashells can’t
be “snails” and I’m stumped but motivated to get through this and find the
right word so I can finish writing this and finally grade.
I think
of typing in “What died to become a seashell?”
or “How are seashells made?” but
I think google would laugh at me.
Of course I know how seashells are made.
They are made by math, by the golden spiral
and by the Pythagorean swirly square root thing.
I can’t imagine they were aware
of their shells, but then I can also imagine an entire show based on snails having
shell envy and some snails getting plastic shell surgery to look more like a
conch.
I finally did search “how are seashells
made” and have an answer that is boring and ugh. The smug top sentence for any big search should be disregarded.
At least now I have an answer.
A variety of sea creatures leave their
shells. They have all sorts of
names. Mollusks and clams and oysters and guess what? As the narrator I get to make choices and for this story we are going to call them sea
snails, and leave their names a mystery that died when their entire family-village
perished in whatever catastrophic event that caused all these shells to be
seeking refuge halfway around the world from their home.
How do I know they are from far away? The tag
on the bag of shells read “Made in the Philippines.” Of course I read it, I
look for hints and clues everywhere, all the time.
It did not mention whether the contents were
food or could be given to children – do they care if anyone is harmed? -- but I
bless their hearts anyway, because that’s the right thing to do.
The Philippines are pretty far away from
Tallahassee, an unimaginable distance to be covered by any snail, much less a
dead one.
That’s right. I now realize my question is
really “How fast can a dead snail run?” and the answer has been answered
by every single one of these shells.
It moved as quickly as it needed to in
order to go where it was intended to go, and the universe did the rest of the
work.
--------
*On
exam day I will have enough rocks and stones so that each of you can pick two
shells and two stones; one of each to keep, and one of each to give away.
