(A Mother Nature Story)

by grapehyacinth

Mother Nature was not reading the local headline on her screen. Her eyes were on the computer, but her ears were centered on the slight scratching sound she heard outside. She grinned to herself.

“Does he really dare?” she chuckled under her breath.

Her eyes focused back on the article. She found it amusing to read the stories that humans found newsworthy. An untalented singer sans makeup was walking her dog, a famous actor was seen with a girl of dubious background... There was so little news on the true contributors to humanity – scientists, doctors, researchers – but then again, the silly stories were admittedly quite entertaining.

But the local news was abuzz with the story of a peeping tom who so far had evaded capture.

Because he had scared off one of her recent newly-reformed wrongdoers, Mother Nature was itching for an opportunity to get at him.

And here it was. He was right outside of her window. She could not have orchestrated it better herself.

Having just been a lion several hours earlier, she licked her chops, then laughed at the leftover reaction. “I should eat him, but he hasn't killed anyone. I don't like that he spies on people – especially when it's young girls. That's low.” She said this aloud, then appeared outside her window.

The man was crouched in back of the juniper flanking the side of her house. He did not move, and Mother Nature snickered. “What? You think I can't see you? You're blatantly obvious, even in the black clothes.”

The man still did not budge or respond.

“Ugh. I have no time or patience for trifles like you now,” she growled, grabbing his arm and pulling him from his hiding spot.

“Hey!” he protested.

She tossed him to the ground, and he looked surprised at her strength. As he tried to get up, she threw him back down. “Stay on the ground where you belong!” she scolded. “You're a sick man. Yes, you're young and virile. You're male, I understand. I can practically drink all the hormones leaching out of your pores. But can't you find all the smut you want on the computer?”

He smiled, his eyes gleaming. “Live and in person can't be matched.”

Mother Nature's mouth fell open. “You worm. You are a worm.”

“What? Hey, what's happening to me? Help!”

For some reason, Jerry's body had stiffened. He couldn't move his limbs; in fact, once his knees had locked, it almost felt like his legs were...combining? He glanced up at the lady – who seconds before had been at eye level with him – and was about to accuse her of drugging him, except she nodded her head in disgust and gestured toward his mouth. “Don't talk. I don't want to hear your stupid 'what's happening to me's'. I have more important things to do. So I'm turning you into the worm you are. Proceed!”

“Mrrummph...” was all he could muster. He could not part his lips. But when he found his arms actually melding into his sides, he began to panic. He fought to pull them free, which only succeeded in him toppling to the sand.

He wanted to scream, but the very makeup of his face was rearranging. His bones felt as if they were turning to jelly inside him, and he writhed back and forth, staring in fright at the woman before him. She was so large, and he was getting so small!

“You enjoying your changes, Jerry?”

How did she know his name? Yet he didn't have to ask. Having been from a very religious background, he always worried that one day he would be punished for his actions. This was apparently that day. He was surprised that God was a woman however. Unless she was an angel or something...

The woman laughed. “Ah, you think you're being punished! Well, you are! Feel Mother Nature's wrath!”

He was rapidly losing all human features. His legs were long gone, as were his arms. His clothes had disappeared at some point, and he could see his skin had darkened and grown moist...

I'm really turning into a worm...

Then the world before him began to dissolve.

I'm going blind! Help!

“Earthworms are blind, Jerry. You do have photoreceptors, though.”

What are photoreceptors?

“Well, they detect light. You can't see, but you'll detect light.”

He squirmed back and forth in the dirt. He was very aware of the grains of soil beneath his body, but the lack of sight was frightening. Will I stay like this forever? he moaned in his thoughts.

“Well, think of it this way. In a sense, you'll always be with girls like this.  Worms are hermaphroditic.”

What?

"You have boy and girl parts as a worm!"

Oh, God...I  can't even imagine that...Oh, God...Wait, can I call you God? Is that making you angry? It's not swearing, really, and... I just have to thank you that you still have me alive. Even if I'm just a worm now. I could have been struck dead...

Mother Nature softened at this. “Interesting point. Now how do you feel? A limbless form can be nice. No silly appendages bogging you down...”

Jerry made a half-hearted squiggle. This is going to take some getting used to, he sighed sadly. I knew I would get in trouble. I just couldn't stop myself.

“Ah, self control is so hard for you young ones.” The woman paused, then laughed. “Oh, let's see you,” she cooed. Two enormous fingers gently lifted him. He hung limply, the breeze blowing against his new skin and drying it. “You're a nice one. You can fix up my flower bed here. I've been meaning to do it myself, but you can do it for me.”

I don't know how, Jerry said, wriggling weakly.

“You do. You're a worm.” She set him down in the soil, and he lay there motionlessly.

“Go ahead, eat some decaying organic matter, Jerry.”

Jerry pushed himself to the side, then terror gripped him. Help! I can't breathe!

Mother Nature leaned towards him. “Jerry, you have no lungs. Of course you can't breathe like a human. Your circulation takes place through your skin.”

Oh. That's cool.

“Yes. My creatures are...cool, as you young humans say.”

Um, I'm stuck like this forever?

“Well, let's see how well you restore my flower bed. Then I'll decide.”

Jerry lay flaccidly, partially covered by the bush. His new body was still alien to him, and when he had the urge to move, the fact that he had no limbs jolted him back into the horror of his situation.

I knew I'd be punished. I knew it. Why couldn't I control myself? The lady was right! All I needed was the internet...

But it had all started with his stalking his ex-girlfriend, then he took to watching her friend, and he got such a rush from the danger, he had continued on from there...

The waning light on his photoreceptors plus the lack of warmth on his skin told him that night was coming on. His worm body pushed him to eat, but he wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to consume...

I deserve this. I just have to go along with my punishment, and then maybe the god-lady will see that I've repented...

A slimy mass beside him smelled good, and as an experiment, he took some into his mouth.

There were no teeth to chew it, and he could feel it being pushed down into his gullet. It was good, and he was satisfied. Decaying organic stuff, whatever she had called it, wasn't so bad.

“You're really taking this quite well. Yes, you go through your terror phases, but then you accept your plight. You accept that a powerful being transformed your large human body into a small worm. You didn't even ask me where the extra mass goes! Bravo, Jerry!”

The worm pondered this. Um, how do I have a brain?

Mother Nature chuckled. “Well, earthworms have a very basic nervous system. But yes, you have a cerebral ganglion.”

Oh.

Mother Nature waited for a further response, but none was forthcoming. “You're supposed to ask me how you can still think like a person. Now, listen, Jerry, even though you made some poor choices, you're not stupid.”

I just figured whatever magic you used makes this all possible.

Mother Nature smirked. “It's hardly magic. It's physics. It's nature. It's energy and the force of life.”

How is it physics? With the mass and all?

“I control physics, my dear. What I say goes. Now,” she swept away a branch so he was completely uncovered. “I suggest you give in a bit more to your instincts and get into the dirt. Something will eventually eat you if you don't. Get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow you start working on my flower bed.”

How do I give in?

“I had a feeling you'd ask that.”

A light touch on his back relaxed him, and his mind grew almost blank.

Need to dig...get out of the light...warm in the dirt...

The worm burrowed out of sight, and Mother Nature smiled. “Sleep well, child. You're practically a boy still. I'll allow you to blame the raging hormones for your transgressions, but you better make my flowerbed livable to make up for them.”

He was so warm and ensconced in his sheets so perfectly...He had been having the strangest dream that Mother Nature had transformed him...

I have no arms or legs!

His plight came crashing back to him, and when he couldn't open eyes that he didn't have, he panicked. Need to get back into the light...hungry...eat...stuff...

Jerry found himself chomping his way through the leaf litter until he reached the surface. The morning sun on his back was reassuring, but the feeling of dryness returned. And when he heard the shrill of a robin, it touched something deep inside him, and he fled back underground.

Here is where I belong. I'm safe here, and I'll eat.

Again, Jerry allowed himself to sink back into the simple worm consciousness. He found himself reacting to the smallest of stimuli, from the step of a bird on the ground above him, to some kind of larvae that appeared to want to eat him.

But the time did not seem to mean anything to him. He would fall asleep often, as his tunneling activities were quite taxing on his small, soft form. Unfortunately, waking up was still a horrifying experience, for he was still not quite accustomed to starting the day without limbs. In his dreams, he was still human, and so happy to be among his own kind...

“There's a bird staking you out. I suggest you move under the bushes here.”

Mother Nature was somewhere near him. He wished he could see.

“How are we doing here? Any progress?” A crunching sound nearby alerted him to the fact that she was checking the soil.

“Well, your tunneling is aerating the dirt nicely, I'll give you that. But you better get to bettering my soil. I'm going to taste it soon,” she said, and he could feel the ground shake as she walked off.

He tried to work on the soil, but the whole process of just...being was so different, and the simple moving and writhing of his body was wearisome. He kept falling asleep for longer and longer periods.

“Okay, I'm coming in,” he heard, realizing it had to be the next day...or perhaps the one after that?

Something touched him and started to curl around him. With a start, he tried to flee, but he felt it grip him and surround him. Help! I'm growing a cocoon!

“Oh, you silly boy, it's just my root.”

Mother Nature?

He received no answer except a thoughtful, “Hmm.”

Mother Nature, what are you doing? Or, well, what are you?
The roots tightened around him more and he began to struggle.

“Jerry, I'm not satisfied with your work so far.”

Why?

“I'm a flower right now. The soil, it doesn't taste good.”

What does that mean?
“I want more nutrients in it! I need a good bunch of nitrogen, phosphorous...You've hardly put any back in here for me.”

So I'm doing this so you can turn into flowers?

“No, so my flowers can eat!” The roots unfurled from him and he relaxed. “You work a bit harder or I'll make you a flower instead, and you'll end up starving in this junky soil. Get to it, Jerry! Lose yourself in your instincts!”

Something brushed him softly, and then he fell back into the worm consciousness. It was quiet, simple, and so very safe.

Burrow, eat. Eject worm castings so Mother Nature's soil is perfect. Repeat.

“Oh, yes! That's it! That's wonderful! Taste the soil! Go ahead!”

“Help! I'm stretching! No! Don't take me out of the dirt! What's happening? Aa! Light!”

“Taste your work, Jerry!”

Suddenly he had appendages again, but they weren't quite feet or arms. He was now sticking out of his precious soil, roots stretching down, leaves out in the sun's warmth. His face was turned towards the sun, and it didn't hurt.

“Look at the beautiful job you did!”

Strangely, Jerry could see perfectly now. He surmised he was some kind of plant. “Why can I see now? Plants can see?”

“Oh, stop it. I'm letting you talk and see. Now see how rich you've made the soil? Taste it with your roots.”

“How?”

The flower next to him looked impatient. “Oh, just...here, this will help.” A small shower of rain fell on them, which felt cool on Jerry's leaves. The water seeped into his roots, invigorating him.

“Oh, that's nice.”

“Tastes good?”

Jerry, not used to being a plant quite yet, wasn't quite sure how to answer. “I think.” He wasn't really tasting anything in the human sense. “I mean, it's not like I'm eating a cake or fries...” But then he paused, because there was an energy flowing through him, and something he could only describe as a satisfying salty-sweetness...

“Yup. That's it. Took you a moment there,” the flower smiled, then drew itself up from the soil and became a towering goddess. “Come on, little one.”

He felt himself being wrenched from the soil, and he balked. This was kind of cool, actually. As he felt himself springing back into human form, he felt slightly let down.

“You liked that?”

“Actually, the plant was better than the worm.”

“Yes, being a plant is nice. And my plants will be so happy with your hard work here.”

“I really tried hard.”

She smiled proudly. “Now I'm going to start working on the bed here. I have some seeds I'd like to get started.”

“Can I help?”

Mother Nature glanced up. “You can help whenever you want. Come by and help me garden. Well, on one condition.”

He grew sober. “I know. No more 'peeping'. Believe me, it's been knocked out of me. I have absolutely no interest in it anymore.” He cocked his head, pondering this. “You know, it's amazing. I really don't.”

“See? I do good work,” Mother Nature grinned. “Now let's make this garden grow.”