A Horseshoe Crab Carol

One hot day when the fog was still thick in the air David McNeilson set out for his daily walk along the wet shore. During his walk, David watched many horseshoe ride in on the tide and become stranded on their backs, but he always failed to turn them over and put them back in the water. Instead, David would cruelly laugh at them, pick the poor things up by their tales, and drop them right back down in the same upturned position.

Many people looked at him in disgust at his cruel actions. They all tried to stop him but, being the grouchy one that he was, he ignored them and continued being mean to the horseshoe crabs.

One night while David lay in his bed, an abnormally cold breeze came through his window and into David’s room. As he pulled the covers close to his head to keep warm he heard a voice and jumped. A strange silky figure stood at the foot of his bed and eerily said, "By the end of tonight three other ghosts will have visited you and have taught you a thing or two about the importance of horseshoe crabs." With a brush of wind the ghost was gone.

"What a bunch of baloney." David thought. "It is probably just some of my dumb neighbors trying to get me scared enough to start helping those clumsy creatures." Then suddenly David felt that familiar bone-chilling breeze and looked up to see a different ghost beside his bed.

" Come with me," it said, "and I will show you what amazing creatures horseshoe crabs are."

David followed the ghost who took him to a place he was not familiar with. " Where am I?" David questioned.

"You are in the past in the time of dinosaurs," the ghost responded.

"Did you say dinosaurs?" David asked, but the ghost didn't respond and just floated above the land to a nearby beach. The water was filled with horseshoe crabs. "You mean that horseshoe crabs being so clumsy and stupid have lived this long?" David asked.

"They may not be as clumsy as you think," the ghost said wisely. With a wave of the ghost's arm they were gone from the past and into the present in David’s room.
David fell back into a deep sleep still unconvinced about how horseshoe crabs were so amazing and important. Coming out of his sleep David felt a slight nudge on his shoulder and awoke to see a ghost leaning over him.

"I came here to show you the present," the ghost cooed. It took David right onto his familiar beach but instead of taking his daily walk he was watching it. David watched himself laughing at the animals and hurting them, but not putting them back in the water. He saw the other people on the beach looking at his teasing fun with hatred in their eyes and sorrow in their hearts.

"I think you’ve seen enough," the ghost said and he took David back to his bedroom.

"So what, the dumb animals have lived a long time and I'm being cruel to them. Big deal," David thought. Again he fell asleep grouchy and hoping that the fourth ghost wouldn't come and disturb him from his nap but despite his hopes the, fourth ghost came.

The ghost took him to the future into a science lab. In there the scientist were looking for a new way to detect bacteria in medicines for the horseshoe crabs had become extinct.

"But the horseshoe crabs are still alive," David hollered.

"Not in the future they aren't. Without the horseshoe crab's blood many people will die from bacteria in their medicines. If you start helping the horseshoe crabs back into the water you may be able to prevent this," said the ghost.

"I’ll do it," David said now convinced. I will help the poor little crabs and put them back in the water to have a good life."

That morning David set out on his daily walk along the wet shore when the fog was still thick, but instead of laughing at the horseshoe crabs and flinging them by their tails, David happily put them back into the water. The people watched in amazement. They all cried and cheered for David.

"Great plan," Ms. Kincaid said to Mr. Gill. "The ghosts really fooled him."