Crabby

We got in one last Cape Cod beach day over the weekend and look what Husband found in the shallows: a beautiful blue crab.  I’ve never seen a live crab that size (or color) around here before.  Not since I was a little kid living near the Chesapeake Bay.  Husband hypothesized that Hurricane Earl must have churned up the oceans quite a bit because he also found a whole bunch of live scallops where we usually only find single-shelled remains.  

The crab was quite ill-tempered and pretty much exactly as depicted in Finding Nemo, brandishing its claws like the true weapons that they are, fearlessly facing off with four potential attackers 250 times its size.  Or maybe the number and size differential was the reason for his mood.  In any case, I’d like to borrow some of its evolutionary hutzpah for a day. 

We put it back where we found it, of course, in the relative protection of one of the deeper tidal pools.  The crab fought us every step of the way, clamping onto the net as we tried to lower it into a bucket and then refusing to let go.  Now I’m thinking maybe we shouldn’t have been so hasty with its release.  And I’m not strictly talking about succulent crab cakes.  No, I have too much respect for this particular crab.  I’m thinking more along the lines of dragging it around to various job interviews and such.  I think my skills and talents would be much more readily apparent with a giant, fearsome, lunging crab on my side. 

Comments

[Ali]

I'm thinking unless you are applying with Greenpeace or the ASPCA, you'd be better off not telling people you let that succulent crab cake go. They'll think you are crazy in the head.

[Husband]

I think the headline should have been:

"Got Crabs?"

[Susanna]

I haven't commented in a while, so I'll just pop in here to say once again how much I love your writing. Small event, beautifully told.

[andrea]

It's been pretty crabby hear all summer. Every day (yes, we go to the beach almost every day - poor me) there is another kid with another blue crab trying to find something soft to clamp down on. The crazy thing is that they are all sizeable, too. Like, crab cakes and a side of she-crab soup. So it wasn't just Earl - maybe the relatively hot summer? I probably should just bring a big bucket to the beach and tell all those kids that I'll take care of their crabs for them. Safe keeping, yeah...

[Janet Alberich]

I can't believe you released the main ingredient in my favorite food. Red crab sauce over linguine. Where did your parents go wrong???