( CNN ) -- During a family trip to the beach last month , 4-year-old Paul Franklin fell and scraped his right knee . That 's not unusual ; little boys do all the time . It 's what emerged from his swollen knee that makes this a tale worth telling : a snail . Paul of Aliso Viejo , California , was walking along the beach when he dinged his knee against a rock . `` We just cleaned it up , put a Band-Aid on it , '' his father , Ken Franklin , told CNN affiliate KCAL . `` Before you know it , a couple weeks later , his knee was very swollen and somewhat infected . '' A doctor told Paul 's mom , Rachael , that it might be a nasty staph infection . Antibiotics helped , but there was a growing black bump underneath the skin . Tired of waiting and certain the wound needed to be drained , the mom decided to take matters into her own hands . She squeezed it with her fingers and out it popped . `` It looked like a rock . It was a black thing , '' she told the station . `` I put it on a paper towel and I 'm like , 'That is a weird looking rock . It has swirls on it , ' and I turn it over and it is a sea snail . '' The family figures a snail egg got under Paul 's skin when he scuffed up his knee . And little Paul 's reaction ? `` I thought it was kind of crazy , '' he said . But not so crazy that the preschooler did n't take ownership of the find . The Orange County Register reports that Paul named the snail Turbo , after the star of this summer 's animated feature . CNN 's Dorrine Mendoza contributed to this report .
Growing black that turns out to be a sea snail . A snail that may have gotten into his pants at the beach . Four - year - old Benjamin Franklin names the snail Turbo . ` ` I thought it was kind of crazy , '' he says .