Word for Word: Exoskeleton

I’m in a writers’ group that meets on Zoom, though before the pandemic we met in person. Every week, we do a writing prompt: someone gives a page number, and our organizer picks a word from a huge dictionary. We write for five minutes. In this example, the word is: exoskeleton

A snail I found in my yard

Out in my side yard, I was pulling weeds growing too close to my house’s façade. I yanked out a large dandelion and noticed a snail clinging to the mossy stone wall surrounding my property. It wore a protective exoskeleton with a pattern reminiscent of a spiral staircase or the art of Tim Burton. I watched as the creature moved its tiny antenna and silently slid forward, leaving a slime trail on the rocky surface.

(Someone in the writers group said that the slimy trail indicates to predators not to eat the snail or slug.)

Forget-me-nots growing out of my stone wall.

My travel memoir Every Day is Magical: A Buddhist Pilgrimage in India and Nepal is available on Amazon here:

Every Day is Magical: A Buddhist Pilgrimage in India and Nepal