The Striped Shell ep 82

I slipped past the kitchen screen door and waddled onto the flagstone patio, where a pale striped snail shell lay wedged in a mossy stone seam. I halted three hops away, tilting my neck sideways to check if anything inside would twitch. It stayed completely motionless. Waddling closer, I lined up my orange beak and gave the spiral tip a firm peck. *Click!* The light shell broke free from the grit, spinning like a tiny top across the smooth slate before tumbling into the shadow of a planter. I scurried after it and nudged its curved lip with my chest, cooing softly over my outdoor find.