The Great Chip Crab Surge

(Reading level: grade 6.5)

It had been a bright and sunny day at St. Simon’s Island and the crab folk who lived at East End were in a good mood. In fact they were feeling so good that they decided to have a picnic! But….they had not had any food crumbs and other goodies to find all day long. “What to do?” they wondered. After some sitting around on the various shell bits here and there and talking it over they decided to go to Crab Bob and ask him. Crab Bob had a reputation as being a clever fellow and they were sure he would know what to do.  After all he was a member of the Under-the Pier Club, which was well known to be a club of adventure seeking crabs led by their chairman, a crab known only as Slick.

So the locals all headed for Crab Bob’s hangout over at the Sunken Oar snack bar. (It was called the Sunken Oar snack bar because the snack bar was housed under an old broken oar which was stuck half way down into the sand.) It was considered to be one of the coolest snack bars around and usually served some of the best found French fries around. This was a well-known fact among the locals. Once they reached the snack bar, the locals quickly explained their plan to have a picnic to celebrate such a beautiful summer day and their problem of no good picnic foods to use for their picnic. Business had been slow around the Sunken Oar for a day or so, so Crab Bob was kind of eager to help them out and maybe have a little adventure as well.

Now the serious thinking began! The whole group of crabs settled down around the Sunken Oar to try to think up an idea or two which might net them some food snacks for their picnic. Just as they had settled in well for their hard thinking time, there was a small splash at the surface near the pier followed by a cry and a louder splash! Looking up high the crabs saw that some smaller type of human child had fallen or jumped into the water and then it looked as if a larger person had jumped in near him. Now the two were side by side and swimming towards the nearby beach. And sinking slowly down towards the startled crabs was… a big, nice potato chip! One of those with the ridges!! And an idea was born in the mind of Crab Bob as he gazed up at the slowly sinking chip. “There is food to be found on the pier!” he excitedly thought. “And especially today,” he said to himself as he remembered the news he had heard earlier this morning from a passing squid.

“Hey guys, I’ve got it!” he called out. “What is it?” they answered. “Well this morning a business squid came by on his way to Jekyll and he stopped just long enough to say that he had heard that there is to be some kind of special program which the humans will be holding today up top along the pier. I don’t know what it is, but one thing I do know. When humans have special programs, they always bring along food! Now all we need to do is send a scout topside to spy out the situation and see what available snacks might have already been dropped for us,” he said. “Well, if they are dropping anything, it’ll be gone in a second with those old sea gulls hanging around the pier,” one crab said. “Well, now that might be true,” responded Crab Bob. “But, if we can see where the likely places are for finding food and then position ourselves up there near that, we might be able to grab it and run before the gulls see it,” he said. With that said, the group selected a scout crab to send up to the pier to look things over for them. The group chose a crab named Jack who had especially long legs and therefore might be better able to stretch out and look over obstacles. With the encouragements of the group Jack pulled herself up onto the nearest pier support and began rapidly climbing topside. Soon she was almost out of sight.

Now the talk among the locals began as to where this picnic might be held once they found their snacks. Some wanted to picnic to head over to the undersea communications cable which ran along the bottom parallel to the pier. They thought it would be fun to hang out on the sea side of the giant cable and to catch the fishermen’s fishing lines and then gently hook them on the cable before giving the line a hard pull to excite the fishermen. Others pushed for a more tame affair and thought it would be a good idea to hang out on the West End and share their snacks with their friends from over there.   The chatter of talk went back and forth until all of a sudden a gently dropping shape caught their attention… it was Jack! And she was hanging onto one of the biggest and prettiest potato chips the hungry crabs had ever seen! She was parachuting down from the surface, gently swaying back and forth with the currents! And she was so happy she was giggling as she dropped!

“Chips!” she shouted down to the upturned crab faces. “The pier is covered with them!” she shouted. Gently she landed among the crowd and was immediately congratulated on her safe return and for being so smart and brave as to be able to bring back a chip. She glowed in their praise, but then quickly said,” The pier is covered with dropped chips. And there is a large crowd of kids up there who are having a chip fight and throwing them everywhere. They never even noticed me!”

Crab Bob thought quickly. He remembered how the crab crowd had returned the borrowed items to the top of the pier one Christmas after their celebration down below. “Okay guys, listen up!” he called. “What we need is a crab surge!” he said. “Crab surge, crab surge, crab surge,” the locals began to chant. This was not an unknown thing among the crabs who lived below the pier. Quickly, Crab Bob massed the crabs and they began to move up one of the pier supports after checking with Jack to find out which would be the best location. The surge of crabs came to a halt just below the surface as Jack inched up out of the water to check things out. “All clear!” she called, “No gulls in sight!”

With that the crabs surged upwards in mass out of the water up the last few feet of pier support! They rolled over the edge onto the pier as if they were one solid creation with hundreds of legs clicking across the pavement of the pier! The sight immediately brought the kid’s chip fight to an instant halt. Kids began to climb up onto benches and railings! Moms squealed and pointed! And the crab surge rolled across the pier and off the other sight within seconds….leaving behind a completely clean path through the scattered chips! It was over in seconds.

Conclusion

  The picnic was a blast! In the end, the crabs agreed just to hang out at the Sunken Oar and each tell his own version of the role he played in the Great Chip Crab Surge. Of course, each one thought his role had been the most important, though all agreed that the real heroes were Crab Bob and Jack. Of course, as soon as the topside minnows had witnessed the surge they had immediately spread news of the great feat the full length of the pier world. This led to many visitors from the West End, Cable Side, and other parts and all wanted to hear the news of how Crab Bob had managed to find enough chips for such a great picnic on such a beautiful summer afternoon.         The End

                                               The pier at St Simon's Island, Georgia, at sunset.