“Mom! There’s a slug out here!” I said, scrunching my face at the sight of the sticky body splayed at my bare toes. “If you don’t grab it, I’ll probably end up stepping on it and wind up picking it out of my toes, probably all over the carpet!” Scowling, I flung my head in her direction, blinking expectantly.
“Honestly Erin - It’s a slug. Go around it,” she said back, sooty head momentarily surfacing out of the mulch-grown weeds.
“Nelly will probably eat it. Even if she doesn’t, grab it anyway!” I said discouragingly, promptly sitting down.
With a sigh, she rose to her stained knees and trundled over, heralded by an immense cloud of sweat and compost.
“You just grab it- like this,” Scowling back at me she demonstrated, cupping the body through her nice, cozy layer of protective gardening gloves. “You’re awful insensitive for dragging me over here, you know that? You have no idea the trials and tribulations I put up with for you.” Hefting it, she whipped her arm back and flung the little body as I watched, faintly abashed.
The slug’s screams were lost in the wind.
