Escape of Mr. Crabs

Friday, the 13th, June 13th to be exact. I should have known it was going to be a bad morning!!!

This morning as a I stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom, I instantly noticed that our devoted feline Ariel didn't automatically appear at my feet when the I turned on the faucet. It's our daily ritual, I turn on the faucet to brush my teeth, she jumps up on the toilet top. As I brushed my teeth, I contemplated on how strange and out of character that was for her so as soon as I finished with my teeth, I went out to the living room looking for her.

There she was, playing with one of Hailey's hair clips(yes, she has cat toys but prefers human items). Just like a little kid, give them toys, they don't play with them, give them a box, they spent hours playing with that and it's so inexpensive. Strange world!!! I am still half asleep and haven't even put my contacts on, I'm wearing my glasses. I am still not seeing clearly at this early hour of the morning. As I watch Ariel play with the clip, I notice what I think is a clip is actually moving. Automatically I think, oh, she's found a bug of some sort. The more I look at it, the bigger it seems to me and suddenly it dawns on me, could that really be Mr. Crabs she's playing with. I run to the aquarium and sure enough, no Mr. Crabs in there. I bend down to take a closer look and sure enough, it's Mr. Crabs Ariel is pawing at.

I brush her away and run into Hailey's room. Sergio has already left for work. It's just me and my little girl. I say, "Hailey, hurry, get up, you have to help me. Mr. Crabs has gotten out of the tank and Ariel is playing with him."

I am amazed at her speed to jolt of the bed and run after me. She automatically grabs the net we have for the fish and tells me to get a cup. She's screaming at me hysterically, yet still in command. I hand her a cut and she scoops Mr. Crabs into it with the net. We toss him back into the tank. He appears to be alright.

After all the hysteria, Hailey proceeds to ask me what was I thinking, thinking we could just pick up Mr. Crabs with the net. She explained that if we picked him up with only the net, he would claw right out of it as we walked him over to the tank. That is the reasoning behind her asking me to get a cup.

I have to laugh because here she is lecturing me as if she the grown up. I have to admit her taking command instantly in such a situation shocked me. She is but a mere 9 years old and yet so grown up in so many ways.

The top on Mr. Crabs tank is a lightweight plastic. He apparently climbed up on his rock and somehow pushed the top a bit off the tank. Then I can imagine him hanging his claw off the ledge of the tank and sliding all the way down the counter, towards the front door where Ariel apparently found him.

We have taped the top of the tank. If he gets out again, we'll have to call him HULK!!!