Crab in Her Shoe

Little Neoda happens to be the last child in her family. She’s four and is still in her primaries. She could walk and run around but loves being carried by her mother. A lucky child she is to be the last, she enjoys taking her tea and bread and will always go to school with her launch box and chocolate. Her daddy is not home and it her mother that takes her to school every day with her elder brother Liam. Liam has a book he enjoys reading mostly called “The Crab Stories”. He loves reading about crabs even when he has never seen one. He will always tell Neoda the crab stories he reads every time and that interests little Neoda. She developed interest and fell in love with crab stories and will always want to hear them from Liam.

One Friday evening, Liam was making a pencil drawing to surprise her sister who haven’t seen a crab before; Liam himself has never seen one in real life but is making drawing from the diagram on his story book. He tried his best to make a good drawing and ended up making what he thinks is nice. After dinner, he came out with his drawing to show his little sister his surprise. Their mother was watching and couldn’t wait to see his son’s artwork surprise. Liam then told Neoda of the crab story he had read that evening and as they were listening, their mother chipped in and asked them what does a crab look like.

Mother; have you seen a crab baby? She asked Neoda.

Neoda; no mommy

And you darling? No; Liam shouted, “but I have a drawing of it” he continued.

Mother; wow show me your drawing, I want to them.

Liam brings out his crab drawing as Neoda was on the rush to see what a crab looks like. He folds his legs as he sits and was ready open his drawing before asking Neoda if she wants to see a crab he drew for her, Neoda out of excitement nodded her head in agreement and shouted yes. He slowly began to open his drawing with a smile on his face. When his mother peeped and saw something like a tail, she was curious to ask Liam; what is that baby, a tail? Liam quickly closed his drawing to answer his mother. ”It not a tail” he said, with little Neoda looking at him as he speaks. Neoda couldn’t wait anymore to see a crab she loves and slightly opened Liam’s drawing to the full. She was still looking at the crab drawing when her mother exclaimed.

Wow! This is really huge. A giant crab I must say. Liam was happy by his mother’s comment and was expecting a positive reaction from his little sister when suddenly she shouted “a scorpion!” their mother couldn’t control in and busted into laughter.

“It not a scorpion Neo” said Liam, but Neoda joined her mother laughing. He could not believe their reaction and as they were still laughing, he folded his drawing and in a rush, took it back to his room and hid it underneath his pillow. His mom was calling him back but he went ahead to hide it.

“Come on dear, you made a nice drawing, I was just kidding with your sister. Come on Neo, you love it right? Neo nodded her head in reply and requested of her brother to bring the drawing back for her to see again.

Liam; “Tell me mom, what wrong with my drawing? Nothing! His mom replied.

Liam; Then why were you all laughing? I made some mistakes right?

Mother; Come on baby, you made a nice drawing, I just was happy to see your drawing for the first time.

Liam; I made it for Neoda, I read some crab story book and I wanted to show her how it looks.

Mother; Oh my God! Really? ” That was nice of you but please can I see it again, you see your little sister wants to take a look. Come on, go get it for mommy”. Liam runs back to his room and gets the crab drawing. Neoda was happy to see what her brother made for her but yet, she still calls it a scorpion.

Their mother asked them if they have seen a crab in real life and they both said no. She promised to take them to the riverside for some outing and to see some huge crabs too. They were so happy with that and Liam told Neoda the stories of crab he has read before both of then fell asleep.

In the morning before breakfast, Liam reminded his mom of her promises to them last night. She quickly remembered and had already made her plans towards that. After the breakfast, she got them ready for a ride to the riverside. It was a Saturday and lots of people around the suburb came to have good times with their loved ones and families. Neoda was so happy; they had been at the riverside but have never seen a crab there. The crabs hide in a nearby bush, where they stay and prey after they come out of the water. The nearby bush is also a breeding place for them.

The riverside was a sight to play around and have fun; Liam joined other kids playing around the river and Neoda, out for fun left her mom to join Liam and his playmates. She stood up and ran towards her brother and joined their charade. It was a fun for the kids as they played together and sprinkled water on themselves. Neoda was the smallest and couldn’t run as fast as the other kids. She tried removing her tight shoes to ease her steps and increase her speed for running around as they played with water pistols. She managed to remove just one of her shoes and held it tightly in her hand as she continued her play.

After they had times by the riverside, they took a walk to the nearby bush to see the crabs. Neoda was relaxing in her mother’s arm holding one of her shoes, while Liam was walking alongside his mom. As they waked, they could see lifeless crabs on their way but they were smaller than the ones in the bushes. Liam quickly recognized the crabs that look like the one drawn on his story book.

Liam; “Look mom, I can see them. These are crabs; they look like the ones on my book.

Mother; “Yes darling, I will show you the bigger ones, as big as the one you drew for Neo”

“Does it bite mom?” asked Neoda.

Mother; “it won’t bite if you don’t touch it”.

From a little distance, Liam could see some men dressed in farm suits with some bucket in their hands. He asked his mother who told him that those men came to pick crabs. As they walk closely to the bush side, they began to see some people who came to see the crabs too. The men in farm suites have picked a huge crab and were showing the people around to see it. Liam and Neoda couldn’t believe their sight as they saw a live crab for the first time with their eyes. It was so huge that they got scared to take a second look. That was when Neoda let go off her shoes unknown to her out of fear that the crab might give her a bite, even when she was taking her view from inside her mother’s hands.

Everyone took pictures of the crab and so did they too before leaving there to see another crab. They saw many live crabs as they could and was about to leave when Liam saw Neoda wearing just her right-leg shoe with the second missing. Neo has forgotten where she left her shoes and no one knew if it was at the riverside or at the crabs. Mom asked her but she had no idea of where it is.

It getting late and they had to get back home, they had to find Neoda’s left-leg shoes as well. They had to be looking around and along the path as they walk back to the riverside. Her shoe was seen in the sand close to the place they saw the first crab. In a hurry, they picked it up and left for home.

In the evening of that day, their mother was washing and when she picked up Neoda’s shoe, she heard a crispy sound in her shoe. She was surprised and took a look to see what looks like a spider. Could be a spider, she thought. She threw the shoe to the floor to see a crab crawl out quickly from it. Out of surprise, she called her kids to come see what she saw; a surprise for them all.

Neoda and Liam weren’t and never expected to see a crab at their home, not even near the house. They were happy to have one and their mother quickly put the crab in an empty container where the crab lives and is cared for by the family. They were happy to have a live crab at home. A lost shoe of Neoda has got them a live crab, the crab was named ”Niles” and still lives with them till today.

Thanks for reading and have a good day.

Copyright @Gianna-B, 2022 and all rights reserved

Check out my dear sponsors

Image credit: all pictures form unsplash.com