Snails In The Garden
A/N: Just a little drabble~ No snails were harmed during the writing of this. Just saying.
"Momma Terra!"
"Momma! Come on! Please?"
"Yeah! Let us help!"
The group of children bounced and wiggled around the mint haired lady who was trying to have a relaxing day in the garden where she actually got some work done, however, her little ones wanted to help.
"I don't think so children, I mean, you three are not even big enough to hold the hoe properly," she tried explaining, but this only fueled their pleas. The little ones always wanted to help out in the garden, and when she did give in to them, many plants were trodden on and ruined in their excitement.
Duane had advised her to have the little ones only help with washing dishes, picking up their toys, and helping fold the laundry. The older children were better suited for gardening, and for good reason.
"EWW! MOMMA TERRA! LOOK A MONSTER!" Emmie cried, pointing at something on the ground next to a tomato plant, her pig tails trembling.
"A monster? What in the world do you mean?" Terra stood up, and brushed dirt from her apron as she ventured over to see the "monster."
The other little ones crowded around Emmie, Lind laughing at the creature and Daisy peeking from behind him, grasping her big brother's hand as if afraid. Terra leaned over the four and five-year-old's, seeing that Emmie was speaking about a snail. The little thing was sliming its way to the tomato plant looking for food most likely, and was seeming to ignore the giants hovering over it.
"Look! It's going to attack the tomatoes!" Emmie squealed thinking that the snail was a vicious creature from the netherworld.
"Not if I can help it!" Lind said coolly, raising his foot up and was about to stomp on the unsuspecting arthropod.
"Lind stop that now," Terra interjected, gently pulling the boy away before he could smash the snail, "It's not a monster, nor does it deserve to be killed. Let's just move him somewhere else if you're so worried about him hurting the tomatoes."
"But it looks so gross!" Daisy chirped from behind her apron.
"He's not gross at all though. He's a living creature who is just trying to live happily, just like us," Terra smiled, tenderly picking it up by its shell, scaring the snail, for it found itself suddenly flying and sent it into its shell until the world came back to it. She went to the side of the garden where the grass was trying to grow back in little patches and sat him back down on a pebble.
"Now," she started, "you children need to realize that your 'monsters' are really not so scary after all. That snail was a good example. Remember that it is not right to call something foreign to you a 'monster,' because that 'monster' could actually have a good heart."
The children nodded, beaming up at Terra, along with Emmie, who still eyed that snail anxiously. When the others went inside, Emmie got down on her hands and knees and crawled over to her "monster," staring at it with fearful eyes. Gingerly, she reached forwards and stroked the shell, wanting to see if Mamma Terra was right. After the sharp teeth and claws did not jump out to hurt her, and the scary growling did not come, she realized that Mamma Terra was right. A snail couldn't hurt her, not like a real monster.