Oreo and Odessa's Favorite Pet Snail Stories:

Story #1: December, 2004 Damien the Snail versus Curly the Cat as told by Odessa A lesson involving Other Pets in the Family!!

Damien

Dear Oreo,

I have so much to tell you! Its hard to remember what stories I have told you so far. Remember, I was telling you that Mom was working on the Giant African Land Snail article and picture for the article. (Mom wishes I wouldn't tell you this, but, I told Mom, if we are talking about being responsible pets and pet care givers, then this story has to be told. Besides its pretty exciting and I just knew you would want to hear it).

First, I must tell you about this cat that lives here. His name is Curly. My humans think he is wonderful.... I guess he has a cute tail or something. To me, it looks just like a plain ordinary tail on a very plain and very ordinary cat. Well, let me tell you about Curly - he is a very snoopy, nosey cat - ALWAYS! Curly says he's not snoopy just curious. I reminded him of the saying"curiosity killed the cat" - well he told me the rest of the saying - "but curiosity brought him back".

It was just a few days ago when I heard Mom telling Curly that he was just too nosey for his own good and that some day his curiosity was going to get him into trouble. But, Curly being Curly (he's also stubborn) just wouldn't listen. No matter what Mom or anyone else in the house does, Curly has to be right there sticking his big nose in into what ever is going on. As if being nosey and stubborn isn't bad enough, he still has another bad habit which is even worse- HE STEALS!!!

It's Christmas time right now and he's even been caught stealing the bows off the presents under the Christmas tree. The nerve of him! Would you believe, he even stole Mom's eye glasses the other day. Now I know that he is is my beloved human brother's pet cat, but really, how much can Curly get away with?

But I digress, I must get must get back to giant land snail story I was telling you about...

Achatine snail. Reference: Stanford University Front superimposed - Helix aspersa

Well, Mom was going to take a picture of one of my snail mates, Damien, posed on a tape measure in front of a picture of a Giant African Land Snail that she had got off the web. Curly was sitting in the chair watching everything as usual. I was in my terrarium watching the proceedings.

Then I heard Mom say, "Oh drat, the batteries are dead in my camera". She always forgets to check those. Well, she left the room to ask Dad if he would replace the batteries in the camera for her. She left Damien all alone sitting on the tape measure! She was only gone, a few seconds.

Mom was only away from the room a few seconds. She came back to the room and all of a sudden, we heard her SCREAM: "Curly - DROP IT!!!" Would you believe, that darn cat, Curly, had Damien in his big fat mouth! He had stolen Damien!

Well, for once, Curly did as Mom demanded (must have been that shrill scream!) and he dropped Damien. Damien hit the table with a thunk! Thankfully he only fell a few inches back on to a mat on the table. All our hearts were pounding. We feared the worst - a CRUNCHED or broken Damien. Oh dear!

Then we heard Mom say, "Thank goodness Damien is OK and is not not harmed at all". We were all so relieved ! Mom showed us Damien and sure enough, he was quite unharmed. That was a close call - too close. It was an accident, but, it really was a very irresponsible thing for Mom to do - leaving poor Damien unprotected. Why he could even have crawled off the table himself and gotten hurt.

Although very relieved that Damien was not harmed, Mom felt very bad. Because of a lapse in her thinking , Damien could have been harmed or even killed.

Mom blamed herself but we snails blamed Curly Kitty. I and my snail mates demanded to know what was going to be done about "THAT CAT" . Mom explained to us that it was not his fault at all as it was only his nature as a cat - It was totally her fault. Sometimes I think Mom is a little too understanding. Curly wasn't even put outside. Shucks! he gets away with everything.

What would you have done Oreo? Your Mom has cats too. Has she ever made a BIG booboo like this with you?

Oreo you have seen Curly's picture. Don't you agree this is the most vicious looking cat you ever seen?

Well, It's time for me to take another long winters nap so I'll talk to you later.

Love,
Odessa

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