Get caught up on Susie’s Adventure and read the previous chapters.

Susie’s Shell Searching Adventure /// Chapter 10

‘Yass, keep up that sick beat,’ Mel said. She plucked a leaf from a low-hanging tree branched and slapped it on her head backward to dress the part. She was bobbing her head now, just a bit faster than the natural bob of the water. Susie just kept raspberrying. After a few bars Mel started her verse. 

‘Ya we got two slugs floating on the water. and we’re havin’ more fun than two sea otters,  as we travel down the bayou laced with death, laughin’ at Pedro while still takin’ breath. Some lady toad said we both was crazy but all of us know dat revelations are hazy, and though we may not know how our lives will play out, we’re prepared for whatever like two eagle scouts.  AS and MC takin’ on the world, skirtn’ round the gnarled land where evil Bel lies curled, we’re here to take back the shell that was rightfully hers, and just prayin’ that Bel believes we’re both amateurs. We ain’t scared of no snakes who steal shells from tired snails, nor no prophecies cause we’re out to tell new tales, and we’ve learned through our journey that the best strength of all, is the friends you have with you to accompany the fall.’

Susie was still rasperrying for no apparent reason. ‘You can stop now,’ Mel said. Susie looked up. 

‘K, well now my mouth is super dry. I feel like some kids came and poured salt on me,’ Susie said. 

‘But the rap?’ Mel said. ‘The rap was good right?’ She grinned. 

‘Worrrrrrrrddd. Yes, Mel. Your rap was brilliant,’ Susie said. ‘Except you brought up the stupid prophecy again and I had sort of forgotten about it what with almost dying while we were wakeboarding.’ Susie let her face droop. For as much fun as they had had in the bayou, the steady croaking of frogs (or perhaps toads) and the unending hissing of insects wore you down after a while. The bayou itself served as a constant reminder that you were never safe. Toss in the threat of a deadly prophecy, and well, you had a perfect salad of fear and sadness.

‘Meh, who cares?’ Mel said. ‘Like I said, we’re here to tell new tales, and who says our original interpretations were right anyway? Peeps interpret things wrong all the time.’ 

Susie shrugged. 

‘Like that toad!’ Mel said. ‘Remember? We thought she was a frog!’

‘We also thought she was a he,’ Susie said. 

Mel blushed. ‘Yeah. We did do that, didn’t we?’ she said. ‘But we got it right in the end. And once she told us what she was, all of those other interpretations just kinda didn’t matter anymore, ya know?’

Susie nodded. Understanding. ‘You think it’s that easy?’ she said. ‘That who you are is who you say you are?’

Mel kind of scrunched her face. ‘I don’t see why it shouldn’t be,’ she said. They were both quiet for a short time before Mel spoke again. ‘We all have labels, Susie. It’s what we do. This is a boat, that’s a tree, we’re both mollusks, and we’re floating on what we call water. But in the end it’s all just language. We are what we are because someone said we are. I don’t see why we shouldn’t be the ones to do the saying about ourselves.’

Susie smiled. ‘And the boat?’ she said. ‘Who gets to do the saying about the boat?’

Mel laughed. ‘Each of us, I guess. I mean, Pedro might call it el barque. Some people might even use completely different alphabets! It’s really just an effort in understanding.’

Susie frowned again. ‘I guess I just don’t think anyone can ever really understand me,’ she said. Her words were ancient, drawn out like they had been scripted some centuries before her utterance. Like they had rippled long ago and only now were reaching the shore.

Mel looked toward Susie with her caring eyes. Empathy. ‘All the more reason to trust what you say, I guess. You are your own language. And you’re the best interpreter of that language we’re ever going to get.’

Susie gave a sort of short laugh and the start of a smile as she looked down towards the boat. Her brain was churning like a water wheel that had had the whole of the ocean dumped upon it.

‘How much longer do you think we have on this boat, anyway?’ Mel said. 

Susie shrugged. 

The boat kept drifting down the river, but they couldn’t see any real bends in front of them. Simply a straight path to doomsday. Mel started patrolling the perimeter of the boat, as if she could even see anything outside of it. She was moving faster than normal, though. It almost seemed as though she were running. Susie hated running, she didn’t understand running. At least provide a ball to chase after or something. But Mel looked happy. Running made sense to her. She looked so happy actually, that Susie even considered joining her for a brief moment. 

‘Excuse me, were you rapping just now?’ 

Susie jumped. She screamed. A slim, dark brown, striped snake with a white line on its head was dangling from the foliage with its head next to Susie. 

‘Now, now, I don’t mean to scare you,’ the snake said. 

‘MC its mouth is white,’ Susie said, her voice faltering. ‘Its mouth is white. Like cotton.’ 

Mel made her way towards them, carefully. ‘Are.. Are you a nice snake?’ she said.

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