the souvenir

They loved their hostess’ home

Ooooh !! look at the corals

And these shells, wow

Well, this shell is rather special , really

A hermit crab lived in it, you see

A hermit crab ?

The ones that have soft backs ?

And live in abandoned shells

Make it their home

And carry it around all their lives ?

Yes, yes, the very same ones

And this one was a huge bugger

You can well see that by the size of its shell

And the stubborn fellow wouldn’t come out

We poked and we pried, but no, he wouldn’t

Finally, we lit a fire, and roasted the guy out of his home

See how the shell shines…

All fired up, they decided

A hermit crab shell too must sit on their shelves

If not for anything, gory stories to tell

A big one was found

And he too, wouldn’t come out

They poked and pried

But chickened out at the fire

And finally decided to take the chappy home alive

A bucket was found

Sand filled in

And the fellow was given relief camp for the night

Before going to bed, however

They had a little fight

You don’t love me enough she said

You cannot even empty a hermit crab shell

At two in the morning

She found the pillow unmarked

And the car keys missing

So she went to the bucket for some solace

And found the shell owner missing too.

Both her best possessions gone

In one night

Was too much for a woman to take

Hunt, call, cry, and hunt again

Till at six in the morning

The husband is back, car keys and all

But the crab nowhere to be found

I dreamt last night

Of fires being lit all round our home

By social status seeking whales.

For in Atlantis, they say

Human homes take prided place

In their drawing room showcase.

Some times, destinies, you don’t need to change, he said

So I went back to the beach instead