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This is Bug Boy. He is
small, just ask his dad; and he is tall, just ask an ant.
His friends are soft
and squishy or have hard skins and no bones. They scuttle, fly or swim
around the pond in a secret world of bugs.
The sun is hiding. Dark
clouds fly across the sky. It’s raining. Bug Boy loves the rain.
His gum boots and his
yellow raincoat keep him dry when rain drops fall from high up places.
Bug Boy knows that when
it rains butterflies hang upside-down in trees and earthworms slither
out of muddy tunnels. When it rains he likes to find the slimy slugs
that slide up church yard walls and snails that slowly glide along the
garden path.
A bucket and a barrow
and two little hands, that’s all he needs for rainy day adventures.
“I’ll catch only one
snail, maybe two” he promises his mum. But finding snails is so much
fun.
Bug Boy waddles up the
road where fields and paddocks meet the town and snails lead slimy
slow and happy lives. There. He spots the first one – what a prize!
Its beady eyes on stalks wave through the air and guide the snail to
dandy lion wood.
Bug Boy picks old snail
up for a ride on his barrow red and bright.
Soon he finds another -
here and there and everywhere. One by one they join the club of barrow
riders
His catch is fast and
will not stay. The snails climb all up the barrow’s tray and along the
outside upside-down.
As fast as he can
muster small Bug Boy shuffles home to show mum proud but in a fluster
his escaping mollusk friends.
Poor mother can’t
believe her luck. Torn between a smile, disgust and admiration mum
looks in Bug Boys beaming eyes. She says “Oh what a joy, so many
snails! But they love to eat my flowers and the lettuce, too. Dear Bug
Boy this is great but I’m afraid the snails must go.”
Bug Boy’s
disappointment almost makes him cry. With head and shoulders hanging
low he trundles up the street ones more where fields and paddocks meet
the town and snails lead slimy slow and happy lives.
Snail by snail he sets
them free, “Good bye” and “See you soon my friends.”
Bug Boy’s heart is
beating fast and a warm glow fills his chest. He knows now, snails are
happiest out in the rain where fields and paddocks meet the town.
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