Karen M. Roberts

She remembered when the crab had come to her, with a pearl in one claw and promises on its hard lips, a companion from the sea. It had never claimed to be a prince in disguise, but had suggested transformation.

Now, the sea lay flat before her. Occasionally a ripple surfaced, like a remembered dream; the green-blue glass stretched for uncountable leagues. The sun stood sky-high, falling westward.

Twenty years as a companion to a crab, while the world turned stagnant.