Day Nine: London
From: Dandelion Snailrider To: Mr. A-- Subject: Day 9: Into the Caverns Date: December 18, 2002 Dear Mr. A--, I truly hope that you are doing well. I have not heard from you in two or three days, and I fear that perhaps the mollusks have overrun you and your family. I hope that this is not so! Now, while the elephant herders in Thailand gave me perfectly adequate directions to Campbell, they also asked me to deliver a special Christmas present to the Queen of England. I agreed, albeit reluctantly: after all, who knows much much a journey to England might delay my jouney! But because they'd been so kind, I felt that I had no choice but to deliver to the Queen her new Thai shoes. My goodness, but the Queen was gracious and kind! She invited me in for some tea and crumpets and we had a very nice talk about the history of England, our favorite movies, and the ecology and biology of Patagonian warrior snails -- who knew that the Queen was so well-versed in the ways of oceanic mollusks! The Dread Snail Roberts was quite flattered when the Queen expressed her appreciation of his fine shell. Attached to this missive is a photograph of myself standing near the famous Big Ben. After tea with the Queen, she had asked me to take my snail up to the clock to see if we could fix the chimes. It was quite a simple thing to fix, actually! Just a touch of gum and a bit of twine, and everything was all better! And now I must be off. This haggis won't keep forever, and I have less than a week to make my way from London to Campbell. I do hope that everything is well with you. Until next week I remain Your loyal servant, Dandelion Snailrider