When we still lived in Grasmere, Victor and I decided to go for a walk on the beach. It was early evening when we started. We did some shopping first, then as we left the parking lot, he headed in the wrong direction. “Oops,” he said when he noticed what he’d done. “Well, where do you want to go?”

“The closest beach to us,” I said, meaning closest to our home at the time (there are at least five on that side of the island.) But not reading my mind, he headed to the beach closest to our current location which was the beach at the back end of Miller’s Field.

Now it was pretty well into dusk and I was feeling some trepidation, especially noting the beat-up condition of the other two cars in the little parking lot. We walked out on the beach anyway. The cars belonged to some guys fishing on an abandoned pier a few hundred yards away. Walk, Walk, walk. It’s getting darker. “How about if we walk to that rock over there and turn back?” Victor said. “Fine,” I said.

Halfway to the rock, we come upon a big crab on its back at the edge of the water. A king-crab-type shape, round body, long legs. It’s all tangled up in translucent blue fishing line and it’s covered with sand. We stop and stare at it. (“Is it still alive?” I think. “Will it pinch me if I try to get the nylon off it?”) Anyway, I hunker down and start to untangle the nylon line. It is alive. Victor works on his side, I work on my side. The crab moves a leg here and there, doesn’t offer to pinch.

“Done!” I pick her up and put her at the edge of the waves. (Why her? Don’t know. Because she looks like a spider and the only spiders that survive into adulthood are female?) The waves don’t reach her now, of course, so Victor picks her up again and tosses her into the shallows. Then we trot back to our car. Now it’s really dark.

Halfway home Victor starts to laugh. “If someone was watching that, they would’ve said, “How the hell did they know that crab was there? Those two people walked right up to it, pulled off the fishing line, and threw it back. ‘Just as if whatever angel is in charge of crustaceans had called us on the angel phone:” Hey, ya gotta rescue this crab here. Yeah, Miller’s Field. Right now. Okay. Bye.’ Man, no one would ever believe this.”

(Note: She was a spider crab. I saw a picture of one in the Daily News a few weeks later.)