Worms

A little story about a life as told through the eyes of a worm.

A worm.
I'm a relatively small critter; asexual.
Don't need anyone to help me reproduce.

So I just go along my merry way, doing my worm thing.
And one day, I�m in my wormhole in the ground;
Maybe I�m making lunch, who knows?
And it starts to rain.
Just little drops, rolling down the passageway from above;
Nothing to be alarmed about, but then... Whoa!
It's really coming down!
Things are starting to float around.
As a worm, I have no arms, there's no way to hold on to something. Then the water is engulfing me... I�m pushed to the surface.
Totally vulnerable.
Lunch is ruined, obviously.
I lay on the pavement;
Seeing my worm neighbors floating around, too.
Can they see me? Can they help me?
And then the sun comes out.
Nice, warm... now too warm.
My little worm body is too waterlogged to move much.
And where do I go? My worm house is gone.
It's starting to get toasty.
Get out of the sun! Get off the pavement!
Things are beginning to look not so good.
Starting to feel a little crispy... and then.

Well, what happens?

Does the worm get saved by a six-year old child who feels concern for its well-being and puts it in the garden?
There to munch on tomato vines and bury into soft soil until the next rain?

Or is it crispy-critter time?
Does the worm end up cooking on the pavement, painfully, until getting run over by an SUV pulling out?


What's worse?

A quick ending, devoid of much pain?
Or knowing that salvation can come; but how many times does it come before the SUV shows up?

Do I want the help of the child, who'll come to check up on me in the garden, move me when it's time to hoe and fertilize the soil?

Or would I prefer to crawl into another wormhole, make lunch for myself, knowing that it's just me and my other half. (Literally, the male half.)

I don't really need the male half, and that half doesn't really need me. And in the end, does it really matter, for won't the child one day be driving the SUV?

How many times have I been hurt? And how many times will I continue to get hurt?

{I mean that last rainstorm really threw me up out of the wormhole and onto the freeway. Was I consciously looking for the child � the arms of a companion� to save me? Or was I okay with the SUV � a solitary life� coming? And let's face it, even being "rescued" doesn't guarantee your safety.}


They say that there is a silver lining for every cloud, and it must be true.
For it�s not always clear and bright.
Life calls for rain.
�Maybe I'd just like to have another worm to run away from the SUV with�

Author's Note

Does the change in view help or hinder the story? Can you understand the deeper meaning to the story or is it just confusing. All advice and comments welcomed!

Reviews

[Frances O'Neill]

I liked it and thought it was funny. I thought the best part of the story was the struggling as the

rain started to fall, and then progressively until he was flooded out. You could have left the

alternative endings out and it would have been fine.