Slim Wiggle

by G.W. "Bill" Snell

Slim Wiggle was a reptile. (A snake was what he was, but most people don't care for the "S" word you know.)

Poor Slim Wiggle was a sad fellow because folks went out of their way to avoid him and his kinfolks, so one day he decided to find some way to make his kind more acceptable in social circles. You know, at picnics, camp-outs and so forth.

It would be nice if everybody wouldn't just up and leave when a "S" came to the festivities. Folks act like they just remembered a very important appointment with their banker.

Slim Wiggle kept his good eye open for the right opportunity to set things right for "S"s.  His other eye was a little blurry, but he was afraid he would look silly wearing glasses.

One day on an outing to the park, he decided to go swimming in the little lake, and while cavorting around in the water he saw (with his good eye) a small child getting too close to the edge of the water, unattended.

Pretty soon there was a commotion on the shore, people were shouting and running up and down the bank of the lake. The child had fallen into the water! The parents and their friends were frantic!

Now this commotion and noise was opportunity knocking on Slim Wiggle's door, and Slim Wiggle heard it loud and clear!

He swiftly swam underwater to the child's side, and came to the surface looking exactly like a stick floating in the water. Which, I might add, he did very well indeed.

The picnickers all shouted for the child to "Grab the stick, grab the stick!"  Which the floundering child did!

Slim Wiggle immediately saw the opportunity to become a hero, and be accepted at the same time. Slyly, so as not to give himself away just yet, he swam to shore, looking just like a big stick, which was hard to do because he wasn't very big himself.

The child held on to the stick (Sly Slim), and when they lifted him from the water someone noticed that Slim Wiggle was not indeed a real genuine stick. Sticks seldom, if ever, stick their tongues out, but this one did.

Folks decided right away that this stick was really an "S", but after all he had saved the child from drowning! Needless to say, saving the child made him the talk of the picnic.

Mr. Slim Wiggle (as he was known from this time forward) was hoisted to the shoulders of the crowd and given a hero's welcome parade around the park.

He was invited to join the picnickers, and folks didn't run from him ever again.

He was on the cover of "S" Magazine, as "S" of the year! All "S"s benefited from his bravery and quick wit.  He became more famous than the infamous "S" in the Garden of Eden!

Copyright © G.W. Snell 2003