I resisted for a week. First I said, “I’m not sure where we would put the tank.”
Then I said, “What about the cats?”
Last I said, “Myamah-nahah … we’llseestopasking.”
Then maybe I dropped an e-mail suggesting to Mare’s teachers that if absolutely no one else could be found, if it were down to the last possible option, and everyone swore I would not be out of the family if I killed him, we could possibly consider taking on the class hermit crab for Spring break.
When I went to pick up Mare that day, her teachers met me with a 10-gallon moss-filled tank. And a basket. Full of hermit-crab care crap.
“Oh aren’t you efficient,” I said. Beside them, Mare glowed.
“You’ll be okay!!” she whispered to him, like an anxious mother transporting an ailing child by lifeflight. “You’re going to love our family.”
Yeah, like, if we’re the last thing you ever see, you’re going to be thrilled.
Hermie came complete with a basket of care goods including a big water pitcher marked “HERMIT CRAB WATER” a thing of salt, and other random stuff I should be more familiar with by now.
“You can experiement with what things the crab will eat,” I read from the Care Book. “Hey, Mare, what does this thing eat?” I asked.
“You can experiment!” she answered. Riiight. With, like, what? Peanut butter sandwiches? Left over corned beef? Someone give me a hint.
Cheerios, it turned out. And a little jar of pellets.
“I totally know where we can get an identical hermit crab when we need to,” Sunbeam said when she saw him.
“Thanks so much for your faith,” I said.
“And they’re cheap, so we can do it more than once if neccessary. What’s his name?”
“‘Hermie,’” I answered.
“‘BJ,’” Mare said. Sunbeam raised an eyebrow.
“You have a hermit crab named ‘BJ?’ For real?”
“No, no, Mare and I both think ‘Hermie’ is better.”
“No we don’t, I like ‘BJ’ and that’s his name.”
“He’ll always be Hermie to me, honey.”
Because when we have to bury him out back there’s no way I’m writing “BJ” on the plaque.
Yeah. “Here lies BJ. He was the best, as far as crabs go.” may not be appropriate for playdates.
LOL! Hermit crabs are easy. We had a 10 gallon aquarium with four or five at one point, and they were the coolest things to watch. Have fun Mare!
lols Jennlm!
Code for that at our house is Bravo Juliet. See honey, 20 years in the Army and that phonetic alphabet were good for something. Now we have our own secret code!
well, the hermit crabs that were put under my supervision actually hated it so much they crawled out of their shell before dying….i hope that doesn’t happen to good old “BJ”. make sure he always have water!
BJ we hardly knew ye.