CRABS

Kapa'a Dawn Light, 6 x 8

It is evening and the shore crabs have come out of their burrows to sit on their front porches.  They appear to be willing to nibble on anything--shells, grass, bits of sticks.  They stay very close to home, little holes spaced about a foot apart, just in case a wave comes.

Once a wave comes, it is necessary to clean out your burrow.   Each crab scuttles sideways into his burrow, always the same side first.  Some are right-sided and some left-sided.  I wonder, is it to do with which claw is larger?  They come out with an armful of sand, take a few steps from the door, and fling the load across the beach, creating little funnel-shaped patterns.

One little crab must have lost his home.  He goes in and out of burrows, one after another, finding them all occupied, along a good hundred feet of beach.  Or maybe he is just delivering the seaside mail.