Horackt the Cryptomonas

Once upon a time, there lived a little single-celled germ whose name was Horackt. "What is the meaning of life?" young Horackt would ponder. "Where is the edge of All Things? How do I fit into the grand scheme?" Indeed, he wondered some dark nights whether there existed a grand scheme at all.

Round and round he swam by day, cruising and darting until both his little flagella were sore and cramped. "I am bored with this life!" he would cry. "Why oh why can't I be something cool, like a methane ice worm, instead of a stupid Cryptomonas!"

"Where did we go wrong?" his mother would sigh. "Have we not protected Horackt from zooplankton? Moved to the finest sun spots so he would grow big and strong?" She wrung her flagella in despair.

"There, there, mother," Horackt's father would say. "He's just at that age. Why, when I was a strapping young plankton myself, I used to dream of being a bear!"