Small Places : Nick L Belardes [78 of 128]

• Suddenly there are more dandelions. They're all smiling, standing over me, tickling me with their grassy feet. I can hear Milt singing.
• Milt sings: "I'll get you little snails! I'll pull off all your shells. Then I'll cook you in a pot, steam you 'til you're hot!
• "Little garden snails come to me! You'll see, I'm hungry. I've got my hoe and I twirl it so. I'll slice you into my shiny glass bowl!"
• The dandelions reach down and pick me up. They carry me to the madly singing gardener. The flowers scurry as he stops singing.
• There is a native chant sung by the dandelions hiding in the grass. I slither as fast as I can. But it's like sliding on molasses.
• I feel Milt pick me up. He's a wooden giant with horrible breath of the worst corporate manager nightmare kind.
• My shell cracks as he squeezes me too hard and drops me into a shiny transparent glass bowl filled with dead snails.
• I feel my two slimy eyes cross in fear. Dandelion heads move through the grass. I curse them and Milt as I fall out of bed and wake up.