Good Friends, Part III

Casey glanced over his shoulder and saw an army of fish and crabs and fairy seahorses headed his way. The fishes were swimming in waves, the crabs had all their legs in motion, and the fairy seahorses were bobbing up and down in the water. He looked back at Scrillow, his eyes wide and anxious, his ten legs moving in all directions.

“What am I going to do Scrillow?”, Casey asked his friend who was sitting so calm and serene by the cave door. Scrillow had slept well, and appeared to have no bruises or bumps on his snail body from his tumble through the salt water yesterday.

“Young Casey, do you remember when you were teaching me about the four pebbles? And if I were to have four sets of four pebbles I would have sixteen pebbles. See, I have already memorized the formula you were teaching me. You can teach it again. Right now. But you have to believe in yourself, and what you are teaching. That is really important. It’s all within you just waiting…”. Scrillow halted in mid speech. He heard Casey’s name being called over and over.

“Casey! Casey! It’s me, Mom!”

Casey turned his head to the crowd swimming towards him. His legs stopped moving, but his eyes became even wider.

“Mom? Dad? You’re both here? And my brothers and sisters, too? Um, what’s going on? Is everything O.K.?”

Several crabs of all sizes swam up close to Casey. Scrillow could see they were small, medium and large in size, though none of them were bigger than he was. Casey’s family had come to find him, Scrillow thought. Scrillow’s face lit up with a big, slow smile.

“No, things are not O.K.!”, said Casey’s dad. “We have been searching for you. We had no idea where you were till a Fairy Seahorse named Fippa told us you had been involved in some drama with a clumsy snail. We…”

“Excuse me,” interrupted Scrillow. “But I am not a clumsy snail! I simply overcompensated with my turbo speed which I rarely am drawn on to actually shift into high gear. That just proves once again that life is better in the slow lane.” Scrillow’s upside down letter L antennae began to droop, and he slowly closed his eyes, and fell asleep. Everyone stared at Scrillow for a moment, then Casey’s mom spoke up.

“Casey, why did you run away from our home?”.

“Because I felt no one was listening to me. I want to teach a new way of counting and how can I do that if no one will listen to me?”

“Son, I’m sorry you felt like we weren’t listening to you, ” said Casey’s dad.

“Oh, Casey!,” added Casey’s mom. ” If you ever feel like we are not listening to you again, just speak up about how you feel. No need to run away, and then we worry so much about you. We want to support you on whatever you want to take on in your life.”

“Yeah, and if a new way of counting is important to you, then it’s important to us, son.”

Casey nodded his tiny head at his mom and dad. Then he opened his mouth in amazement as Fippa the Fairy Seahorse and her friends brought him a chalkboard to write on. Glitter the colors of a rainbow sparkled around him: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

“Wow!”, Caesy exclaimed. “This is amazing!”

“You’re amazing , Casey. Never forget that, ” replied Fippa.

Freddie the Fish swam up next to Casey and handed him a piece of chalk, and fanning his tail in excitement. “Go get ’em, Casey!”

Casey took a deep breath and bent to pick up several shells on the ocean floor. He placed six shells in three different piles. On the chalkboard he wrote: 3 X 6 = 18. He turned towards the crowd, facing the all the fish, crabs, and seahorses gathered in front of him.

“Numbers can be magical, ” said Casey. “You don’t have to count these shells one by one with your legs. You can multiply and memorize the answers. Three sets of six shells equals eighteen shells. Got it? Let’s try another one. How about six sets of three shells equals eighteen? Who wants to try for the answer of two sets of seven shells? Come on up here by the board…”

Scrillow the Snail watched from the sidelines as his friend Casey the Crab continued with his mathematical lessons. Another big, slow smile lit up his face and his upside down letter L antennae waved softly in the salty water.

“I knew he had it in him all along,” Scrillow said proudly. “Good job, Casey the Crab!”

The End.

c   Love, Joan