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Susie’s Shell Searching Adventure /// Chapter 5

As Mel twisted about, all three of them turned to look towards the hole. 

‘Did you see it?’ Mel said. ‘Where’d it go?’

Papah turned back to look towards Mel who was standing in a ‘finished’ pose, staring past the bright lights. ‘It would appear, ma’am, to be at your feet.’

Mel looked down. Sure enough, there was the rock, fallen from its perch and staring menacingly back at her. Stupid. It seemed to be speaking to her, mocking her. What a noob. ‘So does that count then?’ Mel said. 

‘Three swings, three opportunities,’ Papah said. 

Mel frowned. She bent down, with some effort, pushed back against the feelings of defeat, and nudged the little, spherical rock back to the top. Ever onward, she thought, and she got back into striking position, being sure to give particular attention to the task at hand, the mini-journey she was about to embark on. Deep breath. Calm. Head down. She twisted again and gave a second mighty heave. 

This time was better than the last and for that she was grateful. The rock at least moved. It went a bit into the air and rolled to a halt beside the barrier, just before it would have broken into the 5 point target. Still, she was defeated, yet defeated with the chance to try again to rewrite the script. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said to Susie.

‘Sorry? No! You’re not sorry, you’re trying, and that’s all the more important,’ Susie said. 

Mel’s third attempt didn’t see much in the way of conventional success either, but Susie assured her that all was well. ‘You got better,’ she said.

‘But I wanted to get that blanket for you,’ Mel said. ‘It’s purple! It’s perfect.’ 

‘And that’s why you’re such a great friend,’ Susie said. ‘You care enough to try. We can keep hoping.’

Mel passed the stick off to Susie who slimed on forward to begin her own attempt. She hit the rock each time, but never hit it straight. She almost hit Papah on her third shot, and he seemed ready to smack them both with the stick and force them away. Susie turned the stick back in and turned to look at Mel. Mel was staring at the blanket and Susie couldn’t help but smile. Their success at the task didn’t matter, she thought as she examined Mel’s care. 

‘Let’s go find this centipede,’ Susie said. ‘There’s always next time.’ 

She didn’t point out that next time wouldn’t happen for another twenty years. They could be dead, for all she knew. The circus was a once in a lifetime event. But hope is the thing that marches on in perpetuity, and Susie was prepared to always keep that hope within her heart. Hope that in twenty year’s time, she and Mel might still be connected, perhaps by some stronger bond, and that they might engage the circus once again. Susie also held strong to her silent hope that Mel’s heart might be on the same path.

Their search continued on, mostly cursory. There was just so much to be distracted by, so much to consume and take in, so much that threatened to pull them away from the strait path they had set out to follow and from what actually possessed importance. They stopped to try different treats. Mel threw a stick with a rose thorn attached to it at airy pieces of plastic. Susie stepped into a 3 by 3, many coloured grid to face-off against some random arachnid who boasted that he could not be beat. The game required that they tap the coloured square that corresponded with those shouted by the game operator. Susie was dreadful at this. The arachnid truly couldn’t be beat. He touched all the different squares with impeccable speed and accuracy. 

After a time, Mel and Susie began to show signs of fatigue. It had been a long and eventful day and they didn’t seem to be any closer to accomplishing their goals. Susie wondered if it even mattered whether she found her shell at this point. She had been parted for so long, could she really even call it hers? 

‘Mel,’ she said. ‘What if we stopped?’ 

‘Stopped?’ Mel stopped. 

She had a look in her eyes that Susie couldn’t quite place. Confused, yes. Upset, maybe? Driven, certainly. Determined, most certain of all. Mel wasn’t prepared to give up and just that look made Susie forget her question. She didn’t need to stop or give up. Yes. They could keep on together, or at least, she could keep on because of Mel. But perhaps a break. Perhaps some time for recuperation. Perhaps a pause. 

‘A break, I mean. Relax a little, maybe?’ Susie said. Then her eyes got big as she found the perfect solution. ‘What if we rode that?’ 

Just in front of them was a weird contraption that read ‘Ferris Wheel’ and was made of all sorts of sticks and pieces of twine. Some assortment of horned dung beetles pulled at the twines and the circular arrangement of sticks spun roundabout in a circle as various creatures boarded and unboarded, mostly at the bottom. Just as Mel turned to look, one of the dung beetles was shouting at a bee who had perched themself on one of the seats at the top. 

‘That would be an excellent break!’ Susie said. Mel had to agree and as they waited for their time it was immediately clear how nice of a break this would be. Forget the world, her shell, the thousand aches that seemed to pain them. They stood and they talked and they broke away from all the rest. In this space, this time together, they created a place where there could be no distractions, just them, as friends, enacting some small change on the situation of their lives.  

The two snails waited for the final cart to come around and set them on their way. At times they waited in silence, smiling silence or solemn silence, no difference, time filled with all of the peculiarities that had brought them to this moment or this space in time that they were each now participants in. A void of possibility from which something sprung of what was most assuredly meant to be nothing, or perhaps, which had always been ordained to be a most tangible something. At times the void was occupied by speech and thus on their insistence of proximity. They spoke of silly things to which the other members of the queue turned heads to mock their non-conformity. They didn’t notice. Here, in line for ascension, the only words with meaning were those spoken to each other. The two of them were lost. 

One of the dung beetles prodded Susie. Annoyance. ‘Do you want in?’ the beetle said. 

Susie nodded and she and Mel took their place on the first or final cart of the Ferris wheel. The beetles clicked at one another, chiding the other to pull their weight. It was to be a slow ride. Despite their relative strength, the beetles could still only pull so much. No matter. If time was all they had, Susie was determined to make the most of it, and on this Ferris wheel with Mel, they had all the time in the world to fill this space with as many experiences and conversations as they could create. As many opportunities to know one another. 

‘We’re so small,’ Susie said as they began their ascent. Mel was confused and she said as much. ‘Well, look at us, rising here on this Ferris wheel, and even at the top we can’t see all that much. Even when we’re at our highest we remain blind.’

Mel hadn’t really thought of this much, but she supposed there was some truth in it. ‘If you had to lose one of your senses, which would you choose?’ she said. 

Susie laughed. ‘Taste,’ she said. 

‘What?’ Mel said. ‘No milkshakes?’

‘Taste is vain,’ Susie said. ‘The others let me build relationships.’

‘Even smell?’ Mel said. 

‘Everyone has a smell.’ Susie laughed. 

‘And if you had to be deaf, blind, or mute?’ Mel said. 

‘Maybe blind?’ Susie said. 

‘But then you really couldn’t see,’ Mel said. 

‘Or maybe you could see more. Or feel more, anyway. Sometimes we let sight rule us. Imagine if you had done that when you first saw me without my shell,’ Susie said. 

‘But I didn’t know you had a shell to begin with,’ Mel said. 

‘Would it have mattered?’ Susie said. 

‘Does it matter now?’ Mel said. ‘You worry too much about your shell. I think you’re a pretty cool slug.’

‘Cool enough?’ Susie said. Hopeful.

Mel blushed, but Susie spoke before she could grasp her reply. Discomfort. ‘Remember that thing about being able to see a little bit further the higher up we get?’ Susie said. 

‘What about it?’ Mel said. 

‘Down there, by the bayou.’ Susie motioned. ‘I think that might be my shell.’

Mel squinted. ‘But that’s not a centipede,’ she said. 

‘Or a slug,’ Susie said. The body was much too long to be a slug. 

‘Oh my gosh,’ Mel said. ‘That’s a snake.’

 

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