Assignment #9b

Silence and Sound for a Crab

The first sounds he hears come as ocean waves lapping at the beach, whirring and foaming like celebratory champagne. They quietly swoosh up the sandy incline, reaching higher and higher into the muffled feet walking by; pushing the little crab further and further away from his quiet and tranquil home. As the hushed surge of water washes back over the crab, retreating into its noisy residence, the creature found himself lost in the world, literally pushed away by his very universe.

The crab snaps his claws in anger, he clacks his legs in disbelief, and he chatters his teeth out of frustration. But the people walking by gibber and jabber and the crab goes unheard. So far up the beach, the crab can barely hear the sounds of the ocean, he creaks his head around and cranes his skinny red neck up and cups a claw behind his head, but the sound does not amplify. The rhythmic beat of the ocean plays on, but the crab sinks lower into the sand and whimpers sluggishly.

The crab sits still and quiet until his weeping subsides. He hears a rumble from the sand and feels it shake beneath his claws. Two children run a circle around him, squealing gaily, laughter bubbling up from within them. The children’s’ ball sails over the crab and whistles as it passes over his head. The ball’s hollow echo bounces back and forth between the crab’s ears whenever the children let it hit the ground.

The ball thuds on nearby sand and the crab tries to scuttle away in search of safety and peace. His skinny legs and awkward claws make a muffled sound as they unsuccessfully try to propel him away. When the children see the crab struggling in the sand, they shriek with delight to have found such a creature. The thud of the children’s feet on the sand as they run to him reminds the crab of vibrations in the water when a whale yells across the ocean floor; both noisily destroying all of the delicate quiet that it can reach.

The children crouch low to the sand and surround the crab. They pant like dogs, loudly forcing air in and out of their lungs like air pumping into a unyielding balloon. One of them holds a plastic shovel while the other carries a plastic bucket. The child with the shovel smacks it against his leg. The sound cracks down on his skin like the waves cracking down on the tide. The children’s breaths, the thud of their feet, and the smack of their shovel frighten the crab. He turns to the sand for protection, digging into the silence that sits beneath the surface. Before the crab escapes the children and the noise, he creaks his head around and cranes his skinny red neck up to see the children reaching out.

When the children reach for the crab, he snaps his claws in anger, he clacks his legs in disbelief, and he chatters his teeth out of frustration. The children gibber and jabber and scoop up the crab in their plastic sand shovel. They gallop down to the water’s edge, holding the crab out in front of them. As they near the water, the crab begins to hear the ocean waves lapping at the beach, whirring and foaming like celebratory champagne. He once again hears the rhythmic beat the ocean plays and then he falls into the water with a splash and all falls silent for the crab again.