The Horseshoe Crab

Stefanie kicked at the loose rocks which made up the gravel road she walked on. Most of the stones were too small to do more than roll over, but a few skittered away toward the ditches at either side of the road. The summer sun pulsed down on her head and shoulders, which had grown sweaty with the sticky humid air of August in Deale. Her eyes stung a little bit from the sunscreen coated sweat which occasionally dripped from her eyebrows. She swiped impatiently at those drops with the corner of the towel hanging loosely around her neck. Behind her, five-year old Daniel pattered along, asking question after question about the Bay.

“Why is the water that funny color?”

“Do crabs bite?”

“Why do they change color when we put them in the pot?”

“How come they die from the air?”

“When is Uncle Jimmy going to take me crabbing?”

On and on he babbled, and Stefanie wished he would stop. When everything was icky-sticky like this, answering questions was exhausting. Daniel was normally exhausting anyway, being just-turned-five and determined to know and do everything before kindergarten started. Being 11, Stefanie had the responsibility of keeping him out of trouble. That could take some doing, sometimes.

As they neared the end of the block, Stefanie could see gentle heat waves across the asphalt road that skirted the Bay. Looking down at her sandaled feet, she was glad she hadn’t insisted on walking barefoot. The gravel was okay, as long as you didn’t stand too long, because the cars had ground the rocks down to tiny pieces. The asphalt, though, would have been burning hot. Trudging across the deserted street, she turned and waited impatiently for Daniel. When he reached her side, he had still more questions.

“What’s that wiggle in the air?”

“How come the air smells funny?”

“What’s that brown thing over there?”

Stefanie turned to look. Daniel was pointing at a small brown mound, hurrying over in excitement. Stefanie caught up with her brother and looked.

“It’s a horseshoe crab!” Stefanie was almost as excited as Daniel. She had seen the shells of the odd crabs, washed up on the beaches at Ocean City, or onto the rocks lining the bay wall. She had never seen one that was still alive before.

The crab was on its back, its feet waving feebly in the air. Stefanie counted twelve feet, each ending in a skinny claw that looked more like one of her father’s tools than a crab claw. The horseshoe name obviously came from its shape, which looked like the good-luck shoe she had nailed over her bed. It had a long, pointy tail which waved back and forth as the crab bent its body in half trying to…well whatever it was trying to do.

“Is it dying?”

“Can we eat it?”

“Is the air killing it?”

“No!”

Stefanie shushed Daniel impatiently, thinking. The crab was slowly succumbing to the lack of water, and would probably die soon. Her father had told her that dying was the way nature cleaned house. That everything would eventually die. Somehow, the thought was discomfiting. The horseshoe crab had done nothing wrong; it had only been going about its business and been washed up out of the bay. The twelve claws waved more slowly, and the tail was getting feebler in its efforts.

“Help it, Steffie…” Daniel’s voice intruded on her thoughts again. He was pulling at her arm, and pointing at the crab.

“Help it! It needs the water….” Daniel’s face was screwed up, and he looked like he was trying not to cry. With a start, Stefanie realized the crab’s impending death had distressed her little brother. He hadn’t had the chance to learn about death being normal. He was just five, and didn’t understand about endings. He knew He even protested his favorite TV shows ending, when he knew they would be on again the next day. Stefanie started to tell him about endings, but stopped.

Help it, Steffie…it needs water! Her own voice whispered from the back of her mind, where those uncomfortable thoughts were hiding. To be honest, she felt like crying herself. She didn’t like the idea of the crab’s death anymore than her little brother. This wasn’t a crab that they could eat; this wasn’t like those crabs at all. She had read about them in a book, how their hard-shelled bodies were as old as dinosaurs. How their shape saved them from fish that wanted to eat them. She had even read that horseshoe crabs were used for testing medicine to make sure it was safe. She looked at the funny claws, and shivered a little.

Even feeling sorry for the crab, she somehow didn’t want to touch it. It looked slimy, and she didn’t really know where its mouth was. Crabs didn’t bite; they only pinched. But this crab wasn’t like any other crab. Even reading about them in a book hadn’t told her exactly where the mouth was. She hesitated a moment longer, then stumbled as Daniel pushed her hard.

“Hey! You almost made me fall on it!”

“Help it, Steffie! It’s gonna die!” His eyes were swimming with frustrated tears and anger. Looking down at the crab again, she sighed, and handed her towel to Daniel.

“Okay, okay. Hold this for me, alright? I have to have two hands to pick it up.”

She reached down with hands that shook just a little bit. Gingerly touching the sides of the crab’s shell, she poked her elbows out to avoid the spiky tail. She didn’t know if it was a stinger or a sticker, but she didn’t want to find out. Surprisingly, the shell wasn’t slimy, just a little damp. The sun had dried out most of the water which had coated its shell. It was hot, though, and Stefanie wondered if the crab might have been getting slowly cooked alive, instead of suffocating in the air. Looking up, she told Daniel to follow her, and headed for the pier over the deep water.

“Steffie, why are we going to the big pier?” Now that Stefanie had taken action, Daniel sounded nervous about the whole thing. “Daddy said we can’t go on the big pier…”

“I have to throw it back into deep water, Danny. The water off the little pier is too shallow. If I throw it back there, it might get washed up again.”

“Oh.” A pause. Then… “Can I throw it back?”

“No! I’ll do it. Besides, it wiggles pretty hard. You wouldn’t want to drop it and crack it, would you?”

“Yuck! No way! You can throw it.”

They were at the pier now, and Stefanie made Daniel stay at the land side of the pier. He couldn’t swim well, and Stefanie couldn’t swim well enough to rescue him if he fell in. She walked by herself to the end of the pier, her sandals sounding almost like horse feet: clip-clop, clip-clop. At the end of the pier, she looked over the rail. The water seemed a long way down, and she suddenly wondered if the crab would be hurt by the fall. The crab twitched in her hands, almost like it knew the water was there. She almost dropped it, the movement was so sudden. She realized the crab had been fairly still for the last few moments, and figured it was close to dead. Hastily, she climbed onto the bench for a better angle, and tossed the crab out into the bay.

The crab turned over twice before it hit the water, and it made a big splash. She stared hard into the sun-bright waves, trying to catch a glimpse of the rounded shell. She saw a round brown blob floating briefly in the water, and then a brief flurry of legs as it sank quickly downward. She smiled and waved at the descending crab, feeling much better.

Turning back, she clip-clopped down the pier to her brother, and took him by the hand.

“Come on, Danny. Let’s go to the other pier and swim.”

“Is the crab going to be alright?”

“Yep. It swam down into the deep water, so I think it’s okay.”

“Will you tell me more about crabs, Steffie?”

“Sure, Danny.” She thought a moment.

“Did you know that horseshoe crabs are practically dinosaurs?”