Slinky Squeaky the Snail

Meet Slinky Squeaky. This was the snail that Lorelei found in our yard two weekends ago. She made a little home for him in a play frying pan complete with leaves and water. She took him around for walks and let him crawl in the grass while keeping a sharp eye on his progress.

Jump ahead to the following Thursday when Lorelei had slinky at the apartment in a closed ziplock bag. I thought for sure that he was just a shell at that point, but I was wrong. I have no idea exactly where Slinky had been living for the days between Sunday and Thursday, but alive he was. We went to the house for dinner with Grandpa Dave and Slinky came along. He got left in the car on the way home and Lorelei couldn't sleep until Andres went to the car to rescue him. Soon Slinky was crawling out of his tupperware container in the kitchen. I suggested that Slinky live out on the balcony because I wasn't about to put a lid on him and because we were leaving for Tampa the next afternoon. Slinky needed to be free to eat, drink and be merry. Friday morning Lorelei was in true tears to find that we had put Slinky outside and that he had indeed slunk away. I felt bad for hours on Friday. I felt so empathetic with Lorelei's desire to mother something - but I still don't want a pet. I guess she can care for all the little critters in our yard once we get there.