Skill, Rope, Worm

As he awoke he just couldn't shake it off; worm was bored. He came to realise that he'd spent the last 3-months of his life (that's how long he had been alive if you were wondering why I was being so precise) doing exactly the same thing: manoeuvring in a random direction in the earth, eating soil, avoiding obstacles and on the rare exciting day (if nearing death can be classified as exciting), avoiding being dried out (as he often broke the surface and ended up out of the soil) or even worse, plucked from the earth by a blackbird. Yep, boring.

But alas, an idea. Just yesterday, worm had discovered a piece of string on his soil-ridden journey and remembered where it was. With haste, worm set off on the 90-minute journey to the end of the cabbage patch he occupied. Pushing it to the surface - and ensuring that it was behind the cabbage leaves - he decided to learn a new skill. 

It was a struggle at first. Acknowledging he didn't have hands or fingers (the challenges of being a moving pink tube), it was a big challenge just wrapping his two end pieces around the string. It took around 3-days to learn that. But no pain, no gain! Onwards, worm developed this new skill and with a flip of his head and tail, the string flicked into the air and in one circular motion, revolved around and smacked him on the underside.

With a grunt and a strain, worm attempted a jump. It was pathetic as far as jumps were concerned but it was enough for the next flick of the 'rope' to fly underneath him as he jumped. Encouraged, he tried another. And another. Exhausted, worm would carefully hide his new toy under a wilted and fallen leaf and return the next day to persevere. 

Within two-weeks, worm had learned a new skill. He had achieved what he finally wanted from life after discovering that string, fame and notoriety as the world's first rope skipping champion. And worms, bugs and other creatures of the soil would gather each day around the cabbage patch and cheer their new hero along. Worm was never bored again.