Tiny snail

This tiny snail was in some laundry, curtains that I took off the patio to wash. I thougt it was a pretty little spiral shell that had come loose from an arrangement of airplants on driftwood. Imagine my surprise when it poked out its wee antlers and started oozing along the inside of my plastic laundry basket. It is so small, perhaps an half-inch long, with a beautifully patterned cone-shaped shell.

When I went to France in 1972, I was avid to eat snails in a cafe, a dish of which I'd only heard. In Spain, however, there were many snails stuck to the glass doors on the patio. They only came out of their shells when it rained. Then, their transparent bodies would slide gracefully along the window, tiny antlers twitching in the moisture. I've never been able to enjoy eating snails after that; it's too much like eating pets.

I thought snails came with round shells. I did not know that they also came with shells shaped like ice-cream cones. I returned this tiny fellow to the porch and hope he finds a place to survive.