The Cinders of Dezu

1st: Glistening Red (1)

"Look, there's plenty of other games we could play," he said

The little girl looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"Please, Cai! I know what Dad said, but that crab was rude! They're usually more nice! Kind of... I'll be more careful this time! I promise!"

Cairo shook his head and looked out into the trees.

"We can't! Your dad said he doesn't want you getting hurt again. I'm supposed to be the responsible one."

Raina looked down at the band-aid on her finger.

"It wasn't that bad..."

"It doesn't matter how bad it was. Your dad said no."

Raina grabbed his arms and jumped up and down.

"But it was so much fuuunn..."

Cairo looked up to the sky and shook his head. Raina pleaded again.

"He won't find out! I won't tell him and I won't get hurt! I promise!"

Cairo sighed and looked down at his feet in the sand, rubbing pieces of bark littering with his toes.

"You're going to get me into trouble, Fluff."

He closed his eyes for a moment to think. He finally relented.

"... Fine, I'll go get the buckets."

Raina's face lit up, "Yes, yes, yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She squeezed him tight with her head barely reaching up to his chest.

"You're the best!"

Cairo rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, Yeah, just don't make me regret this."

He left and quickly returned with the two buckets. He placed them on the ground.

"Okay, the yellow one is yours and the orange one is mine. You remember the rules right? The grayish ones are one point and the reddish ones are two. First to fill their bucket stands by it and stops the game and then we count up our points. In the event of a 'crawler' we lose a point unless we can catch it again."

"Yes, Yes, okay, I know!" she said.

"Alright," Cairo said, taking a running stance.

Raina smiled and her eyelids squinted in playful determination. He took three quick breathes.

"Ready... Set... Go!"

The two of them darted off in different directions kicking up sand as they went. It was wasn't shaded so close to the water so the sand was much hotter but as soon as they reached the sand under the canopy of palm trees, it cooled considerably. Cairo's bare feet dug into the cool sand as he went. He kept hitting little pieces of bark and sticks buried underneath. It was the only other downside of being barefoot on a beach, next to the intense temperature changes.

It wasn't long before he saw one. It's little gray pincers were being held up as it scurried across the ground. It's green protruding eyes hadn't rotated to notice him yet, which was was fortunate. Cairo took his thumb and middle finger and scooped it up on its head and it's bottom. It's arms and legs flailed as he dashed back to his orange bucket.

When he got there he spotted Raina with her hands on her yellow pale scooting it closer to the tree line.

"Ah! No!" he said, snatching it from her with the other hand, "You play by the rules! They have to stay in the same spot next to each other! You begged me to do this, the least you could do is not cheat."

Raina gave him a fake growl and ran back into the trees. Cairo looked into the bucket as he moved it back and saw the little red legs scrambling against the inside.

"Man! I am not losing to her again," he mumbled through his teeth.

He dropped his catch in the orange bucket and headed back in. This went on for about a half hour. Raina saw the little green eyes searching for food underneath a palm tree. They didn't run fast, but it was always better to sneak up on them than to chase them. She went around the back of the tree out of the field of vision of the roving eyes. She knelt down and scooped him up gently. His legs dangled and his claws raised like they were looking for something to grab onto.

Raina ran towards her yellow pale and was just about to drop it in when a voice came from behind her.

"Raina! What have I told you?"

Startled, Raina almost dropped her catch in the sand. She turned around. It was her father, Devin. He leaned down and snatching the creature from her hand.

Raina put her hands behind her back. She kicked her foot behind her and dug her toe into the sand.

"Not to play with the crabs..."

"And why?" he said.

"Because I could get pinched. But dad that one was mean! They usually-"

"No 'buts'! I don't want hear it, Raina! I don't want to see you messing with these things again."

Cairo ran up with his crab in hand. He spotted Devin and quickly dropped it before it was seen. He stood next to his bucket while Raina kept trying to look unsuspecting.

"You hear me?" said Devin, still looking at Raina.

"Yes, sir," she said.

Devin looked over at the pales in the sand.

"And two buckets full! Goodness child, you are going to lose a finger!"

He stood up and looked at Cairo.

"Were you watching her close? You didn't see her with these buckets?"

Cairo gave a cringed smile.

"That's a whole lot of crabs!" he said.

"Mmhmm," said Devin, "Keep a better eye on her. She gets into this stuff."

He sighed and looked at them both.

"It's time for food anyway. Come on up to the house. It's all ready to go."

Devin headed off in the direction of the house. Cairo and Raina lagged behind but followed. They were watching him until he got out of ear shot.