It was boring at the bottom of the sea so when Chris Crab spied the deep sea diver offering card lessons he raised both claws and snapped them excitedly. Chris Crab and Diver Dan return to shore, where a small card table awaited propped in the sand, the deck already shuffled and ready to deal. For practical reasons they decided against Poker, when it turned out that Chris could never hold more than five cards at once. They'd drop down and drift away in the sea water lapping the shore. That wasn't regulation. They decided finally on Black Jack, and despite the crab's apparent denseness in grasping the rules he could at least grasp the cards. What laughs they had as Chris mistook the Nine of Spades for the Jack of Clubs! Of course Diver Dan wasn't doing this for his health. He knew there were sunken treasures out there, and what better way to get them than duping unsuspecting sea creatures in a friendly game of cards. But the waves did not flow as Diver Dan expected. With a click of the claws, Chris Crab cleaned him out. Diver Dan lost several thousand dollars, the deed to his houseboat, and his waterproof watch. Chris had had lessons before. The sailors of the downed treasure ship, lonely for a mascot, christened him Crabby Card Shark and taught him all their tricks.
Story #298
Thanks for all the stories! They have been reposted at indeterminacies.blogspot.com!
11 comments:
Yeah...the Card crab was at it again ...winning hands down since early evening...but then the inevitable happened..the barmaid tried to kiss its pointy claw hopin to get a fat tip...but all she got was a fat lip....and the Crab...well all that I can say is ...it didnt hv a nice evening in the end...but I did get to hv a nice juicy dinner !
It was on his trip to Papeete that it happened,Andrew was sent there by the office to present the 'Hotel Laguna' project that his customer,Mr Shoo Li wanted to built on the island of Morea that can be seen 5 or 6 miles from Tahiti's airport(Faa). The project was turned down and Mr Li left Andrew to call and let his boss learn the bad news. Andrew couln't get himself to pick up the phone and get it over, instead he went to the shore by the lagoon and just as he reached a cement pier to which were tied a couple of small boats it started to rain thick warm drops, he was drenched
in few seconds but stayed on the concrete, watching nothing,doing
nothing except getting wet, his
senses and his brains were turned off.
The showers in south pacific are heavy but most of the time they won't last very long and when the sun comes back steam rise up from the roads and the heat dries the soil in a few minutes, steam was rising from the pier as Andrew came to awareness, there was no one around when he decided to go and check out of his hotel.As he walked,his eyes to the ground, he saw the red crab, this one came on shore to look for something to eat
but what he was holding in his right claw wasn't really edible,a nine of spade, bad luck "just like me" thought the man. The crab didn't move away when Andrew picked him up and he didn't let go of the card, such character he showed by holding on to his find that the man smiled and let him down on the ground.
He walked to the airport and picked up a public phone and postponing the call to his boss decided to call Mr Li for the last time--Li answered at once-"Shoo Li speaking"--"Oh Mr Li, it's Andrew
Olson again"--"Yes Olson, what do you want?"--"Well Mr Li, I've just met this Australian gentlemen who's interested in our project and since it was meant for you I just want to make sure it doesn't interest you before I sign up with him, courtesy you know"--"Australian? what's his name?"--"Crab,Mr Li, Spade Crab and guess where he wants to build..."--"Now,Mr Olson,this is my project and I'll sue you to your last dollar if you let it go to that....Crab,you hear me?"--"Oh yes Mr Li..but"--"You come to my room at the Taraoa Hotel right now,
Olson, drop that Crab".
Thanks for the tip old red crab,
Yes never let go !!!
So, Indie,
When there's not a pretty girl,
you get crabbie? :)
Liz
Wow! two stories already. I can't read them yet because I haven't written mine.
Liz: I'm not crabby now that you're here.
Daniel looked about nervously as he entered the tarot card reader's tent. What had possessed him to do this? Was his life so messed up that he had come to this?
Would she turn over the Lover's Card? Or the Death Card?
Oh, no ... it was worse!
The Crab Card!!
The Great Canceeri was a hit at parties. No one else had a crab that could do the old "pick a card, any card, then put it back in the deck" trick so well. For that matter, no one else had a crab, let alone one that did parlor magic. Naysayers tried to figure out how he did it, but none of their methods produced any evidence the crab had cheated or marked the cards somehow. Canceeri's human would tell his friends to take a card from the deck on the table, look at it, then put it back in the deck -- some even shuffled the deck for good measure -- and then he'd put Canceeri down on the table and he'd walk sideways up to the deck, nudge a few cards with his claw, then hold up the person's card, leaving everyone around going "whoa!" And like any good magician, The Great Canceeri never revealed how he did it.
Canceeri and his person had a great time and had plenty of free drinks courtesy of bar bets, but all the human's friends and nearby strangers reaches saturation with seeing the trick. It had lost its appeal. Two appearances on the late night talkshows were quite enough for Hollywood too. The human was getting hungry. By this time Canceeri had grown in size as well as fame, so the human started a large pot of water boiling on the stove, and Canceeri's final trick was to vanish.
Just before David Blaine (the street magician) died, he said, "I will be reincarnated. Look for me by the boardwalk."
"How will I find you?" asked his friend, Joe.
"You'll know it's me."
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That's the best I could do. I've had a long weekend and I'm too pooped to think.
Rusty: What a sad end for the crab. He didn't even get to kiss the barmaid.
GPV: You include so many imaginative details. I just don't know how you do it.
Lula: I'm amazed at your poetry. And I think it's the first time anyone wrote apoem for one of these pictures. Thanks very much!
DDDragon: I think penicillin can take care of the crab card.
Mushroom: I had lobster a few times but I don't think I ever had crab. It always seemed cruel to me how they're just plopped into the boiling water.
Jamie: I always love the really short stories, and I think yours stands out. I wrote my story this morning after the long weekend. I gave up last night and decided to go to bed at a decent time instead of staying up and thinking of a story. And when I woke up, I knew what to write.
Thanks everyone for another great round of stories! I'll try to repost them at indeterminacies tonight.
Thanks for the tip, I'll never play with Chris if I meet him.
By golly poker and seafood bring out most of the creativity left in the world.
Today's story will be late. I decided to sleep last night instead of staying up writing something weird. I'll try not to let you down.
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