SNAIL THE GREAT FOR NATHAN

A kingdom stood tall and might, its wings vast as a dragon’s. It was led by its ruler, loved by his

people, Snail the Great. Antennas peered through his golden hair, watching the mirrored floor make

way for his kingdom. Such mutations as this were beautiful and rare. Where he came from, that was

a mystery. Nonetheless, his existence brought a new feeling to the land – a new hope. He was the

true captain of the kingdom which sailed the seas. The ship, ferocious as a wolf, tore through the

oceans, travelling to uncharted lands. Snail the Great was leading his crew to a distant, foreign

territory. He was in control of navigation, hands on the rudder. Following the lines on the map above

him had become as natural as his every breath. Forward and fast, beating through, they explored. A

layer of ocean mist hovered as far as the eye could see. Even so, Snail the Great always could feel

where to go.

Appearing on the horizon, he saw a yellowy green haze creeping through the low cloud. He hollered

to his crew, “land ho!”, and grabbed his hat from within his cabin. The crew jumped and jeered and

punched the air, for they had been sailing the same ocean for some time. They manned the sails,

reassuring their path to shore. His first mate pounded down the stairs, over from the opposite end of

the ship.

“Captain,” he stood in the doorway of the cabin, catching his breath. “We finally made it” he smiled.

Snail the Great nodded, fiddling with his antennas as he put his hat over them.

“Bradley, you’ve been brilliant.” The Captain stated. Bradley nodded and left the doorway.

The ship encroached on the shallower waters, tipping upward slightly as it grazed the seabed. They

had found the island. When Snail was born, he was left alone on an island. It is not known where his

mother went, if she survived, or if her negligence was intentional. Snail was found at the mere age of

three days old, and taken to safety by travellers. The travellers found what appeared to be an ordinary

baby, though, upon closer inspection, they found two, small antennas growing out of the top of his

head. Thus, they named him Snail, and raised him as their own. Though they were his parents, he

had long awaited the day when he could return to his birthplace and uncover some truth. They had

kept the very map that they had used to discover the island at that time from Snail until he was old

enough to man his own ship. Sure enough, the time had come, and Snail was just about to plant his

feet firmly on the sand of the island on which he was born.

The crew climbed off of the ship in no order whatsoever, and ran to the middle of the beach. Snail

stood by his ship, unmoving. He looked upon the island, scanning it from left to right. It was

extraordinary. The centre of the island was thick with pine trees. They gradually dispersed as they

grew closer to the ocean, and became thinner from wind erosion. That was it, nothing but trees for as

far as he could see. Snail took his spyglass from his pocket and held it to his eye. He scanned the

island once more, looking more intently this time.

“Captain!” Bradley shouted from hundreds of yards down the beach. Snail threw his hand up and

waved. He made his way forward onto the beach, his brass-buckle boots flicking the sand behind

him, and put the spyglass back into his coat. The crew had created an oval formation close to the

thickening forest. Bradley gestured Snail into the group. “Captain, can these kind of trees even grow

in sand?” Bradley asked, furrowing his eyebrows and gazing into the forest. Snail cracked his

knuckles.

“Absolutely.” He said.

*

The afternoon had been spent exploring the outskirts of the forest, they found nothing of significance

within. It was late evening, and most of the crew had decided to sleep on board the ship. Snail,

Bradley, and three upper deck crew members had stayed. They built their camp within the dispersed

area of the forest, and laid their heads to rest. The sky was black, and the moon and the stars were

covered by thick clouds. Snail began to drift off. The sound of the waves began to fade as he slipped

further into sleep. An abrupt crash from no more than ten yards away caused all five men to jolt up

from their rest. Snail jumped up and spun around. He saw the faintest flicker of a shadow dive into a

small cluster of trees.

“What in the world was that?” Snail muttered, kneeling down and seizing the lantern. He held it up to

where the sound came from, and peered into the trees. Several crates had crashed beside one of the

trees. “Where did you come from?” he whispered.

“Captain, I don’t think you should go in there.” Bradley shouted from the camp.

“There’s nothing here anyway.” Snail called back. “I’m just going to look around, won’t be long.”

He gestured away. Bradley happily obliged, sitting back down on the sand. Snail approached the

shaded area of the scattered trees, shying away from the flickers of fire from the camp. He kicked a

plank of wood from one of the crates. It limped pathetically against the base of the tree trunk, sliding

down and hiding under the sand. There were shards of destroyed wood all around the tree. Snail

examined them individually, trying to make sense of the shabby writing that had been painted on the

side. One of them could have been deduced as a cargo container that carried rum across the seas, but

the rest were indecipherable. He felt a light breeze on his neck, an unusual, different breeze in

comparison to that of the ocean. As he rubbed the back of his head to sooth the breeze, something

warm and fuzzy brushed against his hand. He gasped and jumped back, and whatever had touched his

hand retracted quickly back into the tree. He held the lantern up into the branches and saw that the

entity that had touched him had nearly doubled in size and was shaking violently. Bringing the

lantern even further upward, he saw the outline of what looked like a human body. “Hello?” he

called. Its head turned around slowly and came into focus under the light from the lantern. It was a

girl, maybe a couple of years younger than Snail. Her eyes were wide and her lips were pursed.

“Hello.” He repeated. She raised her hand ever so slightly and waved. They stared at each other for

three minutes solid.

“Hi.” She croaked. Snail smiled at her.

“Do you want to come down from there?” he asked, still smiling. She unfolded herself, swung her

legs to the edge of the tree and jumped down. She was wearing an old hat, a purple blouse, and a pair

of black shorts, all of which were grubby and torn. Snail looked down at her, brushing his hand over

his hair and clearing his throat. He extended his arm to shake the girl’s hand. She looked at it briefly,

before accepting his firm handshake. “Captain Snail.” Snail declared, standing tall.

“Cat.” The girl replied.

The camping members of Snail’s crew were both bemused and bedazzled by Snail’s decision to

welcome a wandering stranger into their midst. Cat did not say much, she just sat and watched the

gentlemen converse.

“Cat, is that a tail?” Snail asked, peering at her lower back. She curled up slightly and nodded. The

hideous old hat she was wearing slipped forward and bumped off of the sand in front of her. She

jumped and let out a little screech. Snail jumped too. “It’s okay, I’ll get it!” he snatched the hat from

the ground and looked up. Cat’s head revealed two cat ears that had pinned back onto her head with

shock. Her eyes were wide and welling up with tears. Snail gazed at her, his eyes switching between

the tail and ears every half of a second. His men remained silent. “Cat, you’re a – cat!”

“Why else do you think I’d be called Cat?” she hissed.

“She makes a good point” Bradley cut in. Snail shot him a sharp look of shut-up-now.

“I didn’t know if your name was Catherine, or Katie, or Katrina…” Snail replied sheepishly. Cat

curled up even more so, putting her head between her knees and beginning to cry. Snail patted her

back softly. “You’re a mutant” He said. Cat looked up at him. Snail smiled warmly, taking his hat

off and placing it beside him. Cat noticed his antennas immediately, her mouth and eyes widening in

synch.

“You’re a mutant too?” she whispered.

“I didn’t think there were many of us around anymore.” Snail said, nodding in response.

“Now I understand why your name is so bizarre.” She smiled.

“Hey!” he yelled, laughing. Cat sat up from her introverted stance and released her clutch on her legs.

Snail’s men had grown bored of the goings-on, and gone to sleep near the fire. “Goodnight, men”

Snail said lightly. Cat smiled at him. She slumped off of the log which they were sat on, and plopped

onto the sand next to her hat. Snail did the same. Cat looked up at the sky. The dark, thick cloud

began to thin and reveal the stars. Her eyes widened at the moon.

“It’s so wonderful.” Cat breathed, transfixed on the constellations above her, tail wagging away.

Snail smiled. Where on Earth did she come from?

“Cat?” Snail called for her attention. She turned to him with a questioning expression on her face.

“Cat, how did you get here?” He asked. She breathed deeply and rested her head back on the log,

looking up at the stars once more.

“I was abandoned here by my parents, raised by the natives, like to think I’m one of their own but it

never felt right.” She stated very matter-of-factly. Snail knew a similar story. His heart began to race

and his stomach felt strange.

“If I told you that I was abandoned here by my parents too, would you believe me?” Snail raced out

before she could continue. She laughed and turned to him.

“Yes. You have no reason to lie to me.” She giggled childishly and continued stargazing. How

puzzling she was. Snail drifted in and out of sleep, occasionally hearing the quiet purr of Cat beside

him.

*

Snail awoke alone the next morning. He sat up and looked around for his crew and for Cat. No signs

of their camp remained.

“Captain!” a voice bellowed from the edge of the sea. Snail turned towards his ship to see all of the

crew boarding. He ran over and climbed the ropes, beating dozens of crew members to the deck.

“Captain.” Cat nodded towards Snail. Her ragged clothes had gone. She now bore a dark blue blazer

which was embellished with an obnoxiously shiny gold trim, sailor pants and patent black boots.

Snail was puzzled.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Let’s just say you’re not going to find the secrets of your past on this island.” She smiled.

“Wait, how did you –” Snail started, but Cat cut him off.

“Don’t ask questions. Man the sails, men, we have a long journey ahead of us!” Cat yelled. Snail

touched her face lightly and bore into her eyes.

“You’re weird.” He said.

“So are you.”