Blue Crab

The crab was blue; as blue as the deep blue sea. His friends envied him. His mother was proud of him. But his father made fun of him.

“Say you, Bluuee, how much blue ink did you eat today?” mocked his father.

“He cannot eat blue ink? Can he? He can only drink it,” his kid-brother said. The kid-brother was a serious fellow who disliked silly jokes.

“I never drink blue ink,” blue crab mumbled.

“Then how come you are as blue as blue ink,” taunted his father.

“He is not blue like blue ink. He is blue like deep blue sea, just like my grandfather and his great grandfather,” his mother shouted at the father.

The father was scared of the mother, as all fathers usually are, and he never entered into any argument with the mother.

Blue crab had never seen deep blue sea. His friends had also not seen deep blue sea. They all lived in shallow back waters, away from the sea. But blue crab was curious about deep blue sea. 

The blue crab would ask anyone he met, “Sir, have you seen deep blue sea? Is it really blue? Is it really deep blue?”

And everyone had thus far said, “You have asked three questions. My answer to each of these questions is same, no.”

“If you have not seen deep blue sea, how can you say that it is not deep blue?” he would say in irritation.

One day he was busy finishing his homework. A huge white bird landed on a tree just in front of his house. When blue crab looked at him he said, “Good day, and what a pleasant day it is.”

“Have you ever seen deep blue sea?” asked the crab as was his habit.

“Yes, many a time.”

“What is it like?”

“It is deep and blue, very deep and very blue.”

“I wish I could see it.”

“You can if you want to.”

“It is far away. I can’t walk all the way to sea. And I can’t fly like you.”

“But you can, I mean you can fly.”

“How can I fly? I am a crab, I have no wings?”

“But you can go in an aeroplane. I know your kid-brother has a beautiful aeroplane.”

“It is only a toy plane.”

“It does fly and it is good enough for you.”

“Yes, you are right. I think I can fly it.”  

Blue crab could wait no longer. He was eager to see deep blue sea. He rushed into kid-brother’s room. Toy plane was there in one corner. His brother was away on some errand. He quickly entered the cockpit of the toy plane. He pulled one lever. He pushed two buttons. He turned few dials. He switched on a couple of switches. The plane began to move. He drove it out of his house. He knew that he would have to drive it on a runway before it would start flying. He saw a large plank of wood lying nearby.

“This plank can be the runway,” he said to himself.

He drove the toy plane on the wooden plank and in a flash he was flying in the air. His joy knew no bounds. He waved his arm and quickly aimed for the sea.

Actually the sea was not far away. In a few minutes he reached the sea. When he saw the sea from his plane he was dumbstruck. The sea was really deep blue.

“My, my.......it is beautiful, it is wonderful, it is really deep blue, as deep blue as I am. Mother was always right. I am as blue as deep blue sea.”

Blue crab was proud of himself and he loved his mother more than ever.   He flew over the sea for quite some time and then headed for his home. It was the happiest day of his life. 

But then the blue crab made a mistake. In his excitement he forgot to land his plane on the wooden plank. He crash landed in backwaters. His kid-brother and a friend were playing nearby. His kid-brother was shocked to see the crashed plane. He let out a loud cry and attacked him like an angry tiger.

The blue crab would never forget the spanking he got from his mother that day, the happiest day of his life.

© i b arora