It all started with black sesame cereal. I had no idea what I did wrong! I'd followed all the instructions on the packet: bring the water to a boil, pour it into the sesame powder, and stirred it until it thickened. It certainly was not rocket science. Granted, it was late at night when I couldn't sleep. I navigated the kitchen with bleary eyes. But I had prepared this cereal countless times before, and I refused to believe I failed a simple set of instructions.

It was one of those nights where my brain travelled across vast oceans of logic. Stirring my cereal, I remarked that sesame cereal looked a lot like liquefied rock--in an elegant way. A charcoal paste speckled with black sesame. Like volcano sediment. Or thick magma that had cooled. Did any creatures live in volcanoes? I recalled learning about submarine volcanoes or geysers located at the ocean's bottom.

I must have turned away from my cereal for only a few moments, to search for some milk in the fridge. When I glanced back, the cereal had disappeared. The spoon, bowl, and its contents.

My first thought was a robber. Understandable; black sesame cereal was amazing. But I was more than willing to direct them to the Oceans supermarket, and besides, the price hardly warranted a break-in theft! No one appeared. Then I blamed my scrambled memory. But I was sure I left it on the countertop!

Scanning the kitchen, I spotted the spoon. The bowl was nearby...but a considerable distance away. It was upside down. It clinked as it bumped against the kitchen sink's rim.

A rat? Were there rats in my kitchen? Not caring for the sound, I opened a drawer and grabbed my rolling pin. I stepped towards the upside-down bowl. The creature underneath stilled. Just before I lifted the bowl, I had the impression the bowl was hovering.

I yelped as my fingers burned. "Hot hot hot!" I hissed to myself. The bowl dropped back on the counter with a squelch.

I frowned and poked at it. My cereal was moving! It had somehow acquired the vicious consistency of gelatin, and I watched it sludge across my countertop, using the bowl like a molluscs' shell. In the darkness I discerned two small attenae. I acquired the sense to switch on the kitchen light.

Naturally, the black sesame cereal returned to liquid consistency and spilled all over the countertop. I winced as the bowl rattled on the counter, echoing in the house. Well. I could always make another one.

The next day Google answered my late-night musings of the world. Indeed, limpets were a type of mollusc that lived near underwater geysers and matched the shape of the mystery creature. I wasn't sure what to make of that. Either my house was a volcano in disguise (which would explain how unhelpful the AC was in the summers) or the correlation of limpets and sesame cereal had yet to be discovered. I sincerely hoped it wasn't the latter.

Thanks for reading. Here is a limpet.