I’m out looking for the cat. It’s late. It’s dark. The world is full of strange sounds, from the occasional crinkle of leaves, to the piping of birds, to half-heard talk and laughter. The cat is nowhere is sight.
So I pass the time by committing slugicide. Every time I come out to look for the cat, I pick off a couple of slugs and slice them. Every time. I swear, the more I kill, the more slugs there are. This is not suiting my normal laissez-faire style of gardening.
And I still hear the crinkle of leaves. Here. There. Over there. It’s earthworms pulling leaves into their burrows, I think. So I get the camera and go worm-hunting. Who knows? Maybe the cat will wonder what the heck I’m doing, and he’ll finally show up.
Sure enough, I find a worm, but when I look closer, it’s really two worms. And there’s another worm over there. Nope. Two worms. And another down here. Two incredibly blatant worms. It’s a freaking worm orgy out here! The sound of rustling leaves will never seem the same.
The cat doesn’t care. Not about the worms. Not about how mad I am at him. Not even about the food I’m shaking for him. He’ll come in when he feels like it. And he does.
Writing Every Day 
Through an interesting set of circumstances, someone whose name I have long since forgotten (although you may have met her) wrote me a letter recommending that I read the book “The Worms of Kukumlima” by D. Manus Pinkwater.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worms_of_Kukumlima
Now I’ll recommend it to you.
Thanks for the memory… I think. That might have been the trip to the library where my left foot got impaled by the clutch lever of my motorcycle. The longer you live, the more accidents you have.
…and on that note, I have to recommend the short story “The Island of the Immortals” by Ursula K. LeGuin, in her collection “Changing Planes.” Read it if you haven’t already. Read it again if you have. This is another story that has haunted me for years.
Pinkwater is great! I also recommend Lizard Music.
But impaled? OW!