Adventures Of The Crab

CONFIRMATION

The moisture of the night was soothing on the carapace of the Crab as he surveyed the endless dunes next to the forsaken realm of the sea which he had denounced. 
This dark/bluish time when the terrible brightness of day was absent would provide him with some extra time for exploration before his insides almost pored out of his remaining eye due to osmosis.

A few tides had gone by and he still found the endless dune sea impassable. He could vaguely discern moving shapes of blurry green on the far horizon out of his remaining myopic eye. And he was determined to find out about it. Not only out of his insatiable curiosity but out of his growing contempt for his species and the growing realization of his loneliness. 

But Crab was an optimist.

He knew he was special. And in his far travels he had seen many different things. He was determined to find the kind of crabs who would accept him, even if they were not crabs! If only he could find them on this desolate and dry land...

He was beginning to lose heart when one night, he focused on a nearby moving bulk on the sands, apparently coming from the sea no less! Shouldering his precious Life-can and dragging it beside him he started galloping on the sand to reach the big creature. A giant shell and a scaled head slowly turned to meet his eye.
-I thought I was the only one! He cried at the turtle.

After curiously regarding the patched mix of tin and crab for several moments, the turtle responded with:

-That may well depend on what you actually mean?


-The only one on the land from the sea...
-Far from it...however if you could please forgive me, I am in a bit of a hurry...you see the water has broken.
-It has? Said the crab turning towards the sea, expecting to find the equivalent of an aquatic Moses on the beach.
-I mean I my eggs are almost due!
-You came here to birth?
-Yes
-On the land?!
-Yes!

The realization that aquatic life could survive on the land was one of the best things that had happened to Crab for many tides. A surge of excitement and happiness engulfed him. He could make it! He would find his non-crabs on the land!
He tried to say something but the turtle ignored him and started digging, being on urgent business.

-This is amazing! I didn't know sea creatures came out here, said the crab after the turtle, exhausted, lay on the sand next to the freshly buried eggs.
-Of course they do, don't be silly, said the turtle and started heaving itself towards the sea with a forlorn glance to the eggs.
-What's wrong? Why are you leaving? Asked the Crab.
-I have to go back to the sea to the rest of us...

  I wonder how many of them will survive...
The Crab, looked at the sad expression and said
-I am going to stay here..Don't worry. I swear I will protect them...



Handmade by Antonis Riakiotakis.




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The story of the Crab and the Butterfly

We begin with:
REJECTION

Once upon a time there was a Crab.
He was quite a handsome crab, his shell a healthy red and his pincers glinting in the moonlight.
The other crabs avoided him though for he was very weird.

All the crabs knew that they belonged at the crags next to the sea, neither too deep where the dangerous water dwellers lived or away from the sea where noise, lights and horrible dryness awaited.

But Crab was odd. The Crags did not feel like home to him. He  wanted to travel.
He had tried, again and again to go to the deep sea and had many adventures like when  he braved through the forest of seaweed where every step raised a cloud of murk and countless eyes watched from the shadows or the time when he saw the deadly but beautiful dance of the jelly animals or even the time when he slept in a brown shoe.

But then one day, when he had gone deeper than he had ever done before destiny caught up to him.
Before he could tell something was wrong it was crushing him, his handsome red shell cracking under the enormous strain.
His eye stalks turning wildly to see what was the enemy and how it would be beaten or fleed.
But there was nothing there...

That night, when Crab waddled out to the crag, he lacked his usual determination and spirit.
The other crabs glared at him because they always thought he was cursed, now he looked cursed too.
Amidst many clicks and clacks some raised their pincers and issued challenges.
But Crab didn't pay attention to them.

He knew that the Sea had rejected him.
It would not let him go any deeper although he tried until it snapped his eye and broke his back

He tried to go forward until his shell was no longer red but grey and there were holes cracking all throughout.
He faltered when his eye stalk snapped and dangled on the soft sand.
He wept (as only odd crabs can do) when the sea turned into a river which pushed him back to where he belonged, on the crag next to the sea for now and forever.

Painfully slowly he at last arrived at his small hole. He crawled in and slept.



Out of despair comes:
DETERMINATION


Through many tides the crabs heard the sounds coming from the small hole but such were these sounds that all feared to approach  Some claimed that Crab was cursed and as such he was turning to a sea dweller or even a jelly animal. The older crabs scoffed at this but wisely kept back nonetheless.

Then one day, when the dry-bright in the sky was almost hidden by grey and the crabs we're talking about who was bigger and how food used to be better back in the old days, Crab emerged.

The crabs ran away and jumped behind cover for he had, indeed, been transformed.
In place of his once handsome red shell there was a huge silver object with strange colors patterning it.
If the crabs could understand the language of the object makers (they could only read their language which was made out of hundreds of shapes of claws and shells) they would have read "Coca-Cola" but they could not and, let's face it they had more worrying things to focus on.

Crab turned, looked at the Sea for a long moment then turned his back to it.
Both of his eye-stalks stood proudly even though one was tied up with a plastic band to the other.
While he could not see out of it somehow it managed to look as determined as the rest of his armor.
"If the sea will not have me, I will venture to the Dryness" Crab announced.
With only a slight limp and not another look back Crab sidled to the noisy dryness.
His bearing was confident and he gleamed a blinding white as he charged (well, sidled) into the unknown.

That was the last time the crabs saw Crab but even now, almost thirty hundred tides later they still clack the story of the Crab who was Odd.
Just after the talk about who was bigger and how food used to be better back in the old days that is.
Of course.


Dreams give birth to:
INVENTION

The Dry-bright was getting stronger and Crab felt the first pangs of dryness.
He knew from the stories that he would turn to dust if he did not keep wet.
But Crab was a smart crab.
With his pincer he caught the lid of the silver can and let out some water to pour on him.
The dryness disappeared immediately and according to his calculations, the water he had stored was enough for at least another tide (or two, arithmetic is not a crabs strong point).
After that he did not know what he would do but he would not go back.

His Destiny awaited him.







To be continued...










Charalampos Koundourakis





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Living under the influence of Life

I suck at multitasking.

Fortunately there is a scientific(!) explanation showing how it's totally not my fault.

SCIENCE!

...and it appears that the male of the species, while not very active, can focus on specific tasks to the exclusion of everything else. This suggests that these "activities" are extremely important to society in whole such as the "watching the footballs" ritual which appears to be the most common among males.

This leaves the rest of society in the hands of the females and as such they seem to quite more active. There have been reports of specific members that participate in the "job" ritual and the decorating of a "home"  (colors and shapes of items seem of importance)  while simultaneously raising several young. 

Unconfirmed: The Female of the species has still enough time to paint their faces every day. The reason for this is in order to intimidate other members of the species.

Excerpt from the Encyclopedia Centaurus

While science(!) has always been an excellent type of excuse to use
(78% of people will need but a few seconds to think about what you said if it's science)
and in that time you can
a) Make more Excuses. [Backing up a previous excuse with an excuse is considered bonus points]
b) Blame them, they never did understand you.
c) Run away

Unfortunately my ability to focus is on par with a myopic three year old with ADHD so it appears that in the classic culture thing I am neither gender preferring to hold the middle ground.

But just because you suck at something doesn't mean you shouldn't give it your best shot.
After many months of reading while walking (incredibly hitting nothing*) and writing while working I have trained my mind to be able to do 1.45 things at the same time.

It takes way more time to write this way and it can get confusing.
I've found myself writing job stuff on the notepad and story stuff on work sheets which can sometimes result in some odd stuff such as the main hero blurting out numbers and break times confusing the heck out of the villain or a graph that slowly turns into a sword made out of statistics.
One sword to count them or so such.


Ahem.
So what I'm actually trying to say is that I haven't published anything to the blog in 24 days....
Even R.O.A.R. *[Replacement Of Actual Readers]* will not speak to me out of sheer disappointment.

But I have managed!
I am publishing this post in order to distract and hold interest
 and then BAM! on Friday I shall unleash my short(ish) story.

It is a story about what hides in the dark corners of forests and in the dark corners of our minds. A story about family, magic and fireplaces.
But mostly it is a story about a dream I had and wanted to write down.
And as it's with dreams I failed and only captured a shallow echo of it but it might be just enough.

So keep and eye out and we'll see each other on Friday.




Charalampos Koundourakis.


*There were so many close calls. Damn Lampposts...and people...and cars...



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