Lottery Dream Home

The little guy felt like he just won the lottery when he found this abandoned conch shell laying on the beach.  Sea snails can’t crawl out of their shell, but when a snail dies, it loses its shell because it shrinks, and the mantle through which it’s attached to the shell decomposes.  An hour later the rotting carcass of the dead snail was totally gone, and the crab had a full belly.  The tiny Hermit Crab thought that this shell might be too big to lug around with him, but he figured that he could always sit back and wait to steal the castoff shell of a larger crab that decides to make an upgrade.  In the meantime, while he was waiting, other crabs would gather around the shell and do the same.  If he decided to exchange shells with a larger crab, he might even be able to find a mate by doing this.  He figured that if a good-looking female comes along that he would start standing up on his legs and waving his claws at her, to try to impress her by looking larger.  If she’s interested, she might reciprocate by waving back, and they could approach each other and touch claws.  Ahh, making love in his new home, what could be better than that?

Written for KL Caley’s Thursday Write Photo – Upsizing – Image by KL Caley.