Page 77 - Vol. VII #8

nudged the shell upside-down.
sters. We prided ourselves on making them last for years.
Throwaway pets, Frank and I used to call them. Kids came to the shore and bought a couple to take home, thinking they were indestructible. But her- mit crabs take some caring for. Within a week or two, the kids would discover just how fragile those crabs really were. You had to isolate them when they molted, or their fellow crabs would eat them while they were vulnerable. You had to provide a range of empty shells for them to choose among
as they grew. Changing shells was a precarious business, too.The shock of change could make a leg fall off, or a claw. If they survived these dangers, they could grow a brand-new appendage. If they survived.
I looked down at my brother’s face. His mouth was open, but his eyes were closed. He was, at last, at peace. I wiped the blood from my palm across his forehead. A dark red smudge I bent to kiss.
Then I cupped the hermit crab gingerly in my wound- ed hand and left the hospital.
Frank and I had a cage full of hermit crabs as young-
Reeves’s fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in a wide array of journals and anthologies. She has been awarded numerous honors, including the Miami University Press’s Novella Prize (2007) for Badlands, and several Pushcart Prize nominations. She has been awarded residencies including Hawthornden Castle, Art & Science (AS-IF) in the Field..A graduate of Warren Wilson’s MFA program, Reeves has taught in the creative writing programs at Rosemont Col- lege and Bryn Mawr College.
Geode 3
wire armature, paper, sand 7'' x 10'' x 10''
Blue Grotto
wire armature, paper, acrylic paint and mediums 13'' x 17'' x 16''
By Jackie Abrams