The Hike of Glory

It was a beautiful morning in Fujinomiya city and Gerome the lord of snails wanted to make a discovery because he only had a few months left to live. That evening Gerome couldn’t seem to get any sleep. Every second of the never ending dreary night Gerome lay awake staring at the top of the the mysterious, towering and enormous Mount Fuji. 

The next moment the snail lord was struck by an idea. That idea was to be the first snail in history to find out what  lay upon the top of the gargantuan mountain. Gerome didn’t know what the quest would bring but he knew that he wouldn’t give up on climbing Mount Fuji. Little did he know it was the tallest mountain in Japan.

The next morning Gerome set off with eleven other snails. Those snails were Cecile, Debbie, Paulina, Milly, Sarah, Frederick, Zack, Simon, Mike, Suki, and lastly Wendy.

These were the very snails that had sworn an oath to protect the great snail no matter what. The group started their climb at 4:45am and had travelled about three thousand feet by dusk. The leader decided that they shall turn in and begin again tomorrow. A few minutes later Suki said “oh great and honourable Gerome may I ask has any snail seen Frederick?’’ ”NO!’’ exclaimed Gerome. Milly spoke up. “I saw him lord. Frederick got swept away by a ferocious bird and the bird nearly got me too.” Gerome didn’t know what to think. It was only the first day and a snail had already been taken out. Was this mission really a lost cause? The powerful snails thoughts were interrupted by the break of day. By dusk the snails had been hiking up the mountain every minute and had travelled a distance of a few hundred feet. Simon hollered with joy. ”At this rate” he yelled loud enough for every soul to hear within a miles range “we’ll be up on the top of the mountain tomorrow at sunset.”

Believe it or not Gerome and his team of super-snails were on the peak of the mountain by the third day and their eyes were glued onto the glorious view of the sun setting behind Japan. There was a tranquil breeze and the leaves of the majestic trees were dancing as if the breeze was some sort of a song. The snails had never seen something as wonderful as the sight they saw that night. Gerome and his fellow snails gazed at that sight until they drifted off into a deep, peaceful sleep.

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