Why do some crabs have pink shells?

 Somehow a sea wind took the egg in its tenuous grasp for just a second admired it, caressed it, and fickle as ever dropped it so that it slipped down off the sandy ledge and fell into a crevice down in the dark and eerie depths of the side of the Continental shelf. Fortunately the crevice was so small that all the big eyed nearly transparent monsters that fed at these depths couldn’t eat it. A particularly nasty angler fish with hair and pointy teeth saw this pearl and tried its very worst to reach it, but his big ugly head, however much he heaved and pushed, just got stuck and he bruised his eyes so badly that he decided to blow his foul sea breath so that it would force the egg out of the crack.

Luckily an Angelfish was watching and with a wave of his fins at this little gem made the egg stick to the wall of the rock. The Anglerfish puffed his foulness until the little egg wrinkled and felt quite sick, but the Angels magic glue was strong and the egg held on tight. The foul fish swam off and the little egg glowed again with the knowledge that an angel was looking over her. Within a few days she had broken from this smooth shell and was immediately wafted away on the sea winds. No matter how she waved her tiny little legs, direction was not to be her choice and finally tired out, slept and drifted until she landed on a reef of startling colours and magical fish. Great spires rose above her and every now and again they came to life as the little coral creatures waved at her from all of their windows. Harmony crab felt born again and scuttled around picking up morsels of food dropped for her by Angelfish and if there was ever any danger scuttled sideways into her home.

Home was really a small crack in the reef that opened into a little room which she had carefully decorated with tiny coloured shells and a slightly larger one that she had planted some sea grass in to make it homely. Her special find was a sliver of Mother of Pearl shell that was a perfect mirror.
Harmony looked at herself and somehow knew that one day this colourless skin she had would harden and protect her until she didn’t have to scuttle back into her home at the sight of danger. This habit was also nearly to be her downfall when she had grown into a splendidly beautiful lady crab with great legs and an awesomely sexy arse. In the meantime she pranced and posed in front of the mirror and with her back to it looked backwards and imagined what she would look like. The feeling was good.

As time went on Harmony eat and danced under the moonlight with the little coral people waving at her and cheering her on as she exercised her legs, even running races with other creatures until she was fast and tough and her legs were something to be seen. Every day she looked in the mirror and watched her shell growing and rounding out at the back until she knew she was just the best. After one long sleep her shell grew tough and she knew that she could go out into the world and be safe as long as she had somewhere to run if real trouble came along. She had forgotten that every day she had to squeeze in and out of her home now that she was growing, and after that long sleep when her shell had hardened she could no longer get out. She dug and scratched and clawed, but to no avail. She was stuck.
The most beautiful fantastic crab ever to be born with a cute arse that would make all the female crabs in the universe weep with envy…and she was stuck.

Have you ever heard a crab cry…well the Angelfish did and waved his magic fins…a miracle happened…Harmony’s shell split and she stepped out.
Pink and vulnerable and unimaginably beautiful…’be careful little one’
The Angelfish whispered. ‘Make sure that you find a new home to go to until your new shell forms’.
‘Oh yes Angel and will you always be here for me?’
‘There are always Angels to help as long as you believe’
And with a swish of his splendid tail he was gone.
Harmony, with some effort, pushed her old shell out through the hole and crawled inside so that just her pink legs stuck out and scuttled this way and that until she found a new and bigger home to decorate and an even bigger mirror which she leant against her old shell. She wasn’t vane, she just knew that she had to keep her new shell in tiptop condition so that she could be the very best. This time she was wiser and moved to a home with a bigger entrance so that if her shell grew tough in her sleep, she wouldn’t get stuck.
Harmony led a blissful life, full of wonder and innocence until this new shell she had cracked open all by itself and she was vulnerable again. Luckily she had the sense to hide in her home, but what she hadn’t considered was that, through no fault of her own, she was asked if she could share her home with another and after some time she had had enough. She was still soft and exposed so she did the only thing she knew , she pushed and squeezed herself back into her old shell and  went out into the world to look for a new
Home.  What she had forgotten in all of her time of trouble was that she still wore her old shell that she had crawled back into and her new shell was hardening as well. She wriggled and pushed, but she was stuck…
Firmly stuck... And it hurt and the old shell grew smelly…
And it hurt more, but being a tough crab that remembered how she had looked in the mirror long ago, kept her dreams and carried on. One day she woke up crying with a pink nose and feeling sore she remembered she used to believe in Angels and her old friend swam by and said ‘my my little one’
she just sniffed as only crabs can sniff and the Angel fish laughed at her plight.
‘Got that cute sexy arse of yours well and truly stuck in that smelly old shell have we. Oh dear…oh my’
and Harmony sniffed again. ‘yes she faintly whispered’
‘have you learnt a lesson little harmony’ the fish said.
‘yes you cant go back and hide in your old shell, but rather you have to move on and grow a new shell, but its too late for me.’
‘What’s this rubbish about too late!!!!! Its never too late.’
The big angel fish gave Harmony’s arse a mighty smack with his tail and the old shell snapped and fell off. Harmony was…….free…….absolutely and magically free.
‘Oh thank you Angel.’ She said and blushed pink.
‘If you ever…ever…try to hide in an old shell again and not be yourself I will smack your arse from here to eternity.
Just then there was a faint cry. ‘gotta go…sounds like another crab stuck…my poor tail will be sore by the end of the day…great fun though!!!!’
And he was gone.
So now you know why some crabs have pink shells. Its because they think that they can go back into them, but every time they do an Angel comes along and kicks their butt until it goes pink………………..