“I love to watch the clouds!” Happy Snail said, the slowest of all the snails in his large family. He lived in a flower garden tended by a Gardener and loved to smell the springtime flowers, especially marigolds and petunias. Begonias, pansies, and daisies also made him feel right at home. He warmed himself in the sunshine, waddling with his big shell.
Even when it rained, Happy Snail enjoyed the tender rain drops on his tongue. In the winter freeze, he hid in the crevices of the garden, hibernating underneath a layer of slime. Now that it was spring, he was happier than ever, ready for summer and all the joy with it.
Although Happy Snail didn’t always know where he was going, he liked to think that he was going in the right direction. Every day, he watched the clouds. Sometimes, he thought that the clouds looked just like him.
“Why do you have to be so slow?” said his brother, Grumble, to him.
“Do you know how much I got done today?” his sister Mingy said, nudging him with her shell.
“If things are too fast, you can’t enjoy them,” the Happy Snail said. “Sometimes you have to stand still to see the clouds move. Haven’t you ever watched the clouds?”
“Watch the clouds move?” Grumble said. “Nothing moves slower in the whole world!”
“My friend Mr. Sloth enjoys everything that he encounters,” Happy said, watching a sloth lug himself through the garden. “The slower, the better! That’s the way!”
Happy wished that Grumble and he could be friends. He never liked to argue.
“You might be faster than I am,” Happy said, “but you are mean. Just mean! I am Happy!”
“Oh, please!” Grumble said. “Just to let you know, I heard the Gardener talking yesterday, and he is about to uproot this garden. So there! Are you happy?”
“I also heard him say that he’s moving across town and taking his flower garden with him,” Mingy said with a giggle.
“You’re so slow,” Grumble snapped. “You’ll have to move faster to get to the new garden! We’ll have to travel on streets with people. You’ll never keep up with us! I’m not going to let you slow me down. You’ll get lost, and we know where we’re going!”
“You won’t be happy for long!” Mingy said. “Cheer up already!”
“I’ll enjoy every minute of making my way to the new garden,” Happy Snail said. “I’ll look at the clouds like I always do.”
As the days went by, the Gardener dug up Happy Snail’s favorite flowers. This made Happy feel very unhappy. He tried to spend a lot of time looking at the clouds to keep a good attitude. Although he looked forward to moving with his family, they moved a little bit faster than he did.
“I’ll just enjoy the journey,” Happy Snail said, watching his entire family creep past him in the grass.
“Look at us!” Grumble said, as he flaunted his nose toward the Snail family. “We’re so much quicker than you! Summer will be over by the time you get to the new garden. It’ll be winter before you get there, and we’ll already be sleeping. Hope you make it!”
“I’ve never been happier,” Happy Snail said, dilly-dallying across town at his own speed.
Even if he was a block or more behind his family, the Happy Snail could still see their whereabouts. He didn’t want to completely lose track of his relatives.
“I’m a dawdler,” he said with a laugh as he watched the clouds. Then, he bumped into his friend Mr. Sloth.
“Happy! How are you?” Mr. Sloth said. “So glad to run into you!”
“Want to come with me to the new garden across town?” Happy Snail said to Mr. Sloth.
“Of course I do, Happy!” Mr. Sloth said. “I’d be so sad if you weren’t with me every day.”
Little by little, Happy fell behind his family, and he could no longer see them in the distance. He knew he was so close to the new garden, but he had no idea where he was going.
Despite all, Happy Snail and Mr. Sloth made their way across town and eventually ran into Giant the Tortoise. The Tortoise was about ten times as big as the Snail.
“We’re on our way to a new garden, if we can only find it,” Happy said to the Tortoise.
“Can I come to the new garden with you?” Giant the Tortoise said. “I hope I can keep up and not get lost.”
“Well, I might already be a bit lost, but definitely come with us,” Happy said.
Happy felt abandoned by his family and disappointed that they had not come looking for him. He wished they could all be joyful together. At least he had his new friend, the Tortoise.
“Maybe you can help me get back on track,” Happy said to the Tortoise. “We’ll make sure we walk slow enough for you!”
“Slooooooooow!” Mr. Sloth said. “It’s my speed.”
“Where is your family?” the Tortoise said, shaking his shell.
“They left me in the dust, but I love them anyhow,” Happy Snail said. “They’re in such a rush that they miss out on so many special things.”
“If you’re slow, you might as well love being slow!” Koala the Bear said, yawning. “I’m coming with you, too, Happy!”
Happy felt so warm inside. His heart almost welled up in his throat!
“Don’t leave without me!” Slug the Squish said. “Speed doesn’t do me any good. Even if I’m on time, I’m still late.”
“I might be the world’s slowest bird,” American Woodcock said, “but I love being myself, and no one is like me.”
By the time Happy Snail, Mr. Sloth, Giant the Tortoise, Koala the Bear, Slug the Squish, and American Woodcock made it around the block a few times, they had become completely lost, but they had also become the best of friends. They passed the time by playing a game where they found shapes in the clouds.
Then, as though they had stumbled on a miracle, Happy and his group of vagabond travelers practically bumped into the new garden.
Not only did it have flowers that Happy loved, but also tender leafy greens, like lettuce, spinach, kale, Swiss chard, cabbage, Bok choy, and arugula. It also had soft vegetables and fruits, like strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, and melons.
“This is the most beautiful garden that I’ve ever seen!” Happy said, noticing the basil, parsley, mint, and dill as well. “I’m so glad we found it. What a wonderful new home!”
The Snail family, of course, arrived at the garden a few hours before Happy Snail and his slowpoke sidekicks. However, his family had no new friends and had missed out on the spectacular cloud show in the mid-day sky.
“We rushed so fast, we didn’t notice anything along the way,” Grumble muttered.
“Next time, we’ll have to take it a little slower,” Mingy said. “Sorry, we rushed ahead.”
“I’m just glad my family is together now,” Happy Snail said. “If the Gardener hadn’t moved the garden, I would have never met my new slow-and-steady friends. Now we can all enjoy the garden together.”
Copyright 2016 Jennifer Waters
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