Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 169

“We got to do something about this…this human mess! Those humans are inhuman, forcing poisons and
toxin into our bodies!” Eva declared. “Put on your thinking caps everyone! We need to do something about this.”
The brains of the Shanghai Yangcheng Lake Mitten Crabs churned and spun but before long there was complete
silence.
*****
While the oldest crabs were thinking of an idea to save their fellow crabs, the little ones gathered at the surface,
gazing at the looming shadows above them.
“Yea! Food!” they cheered. At once the pellets rained down on them, and they opened their ravenous mouths
wide. Soon their stomachs were full and they sang in imperceptibly high-pitched voices;
“We are going to be on a silver plate!”
“We are going to be on a silver plate! “
“We are going to taste delicious!”
“We are going to be delicious!””
Jackson shook his head at them in despair. “They would never taste delicious. And soon, everyone would stop eating
them, and the lake would become a cesspool, and the Mitten Crabs would no longer be a delicacy,” he anguished.
The farmer reached down into the lake and picked up a dozen of the biggest and fattest baby crabs, as the adult crabs
looked on in dismay. They could hear them still singing the song over and over.
Jackson looked on in disappointment. He could not believe that his descendants could be so naive. He sighed and
muttered dejectedly to himself, “Don’t they know that there are a whole lot of chemicals and toxins in their bodies?
People all over the world will suffer from the farmer’s deeds and we the once famous Shanghai Yangcheng Lake
Mitten Crabs shall be remembered for instilling a sickness everywhere.”
And the spoiled waters of the Shanghai Yangcheng Lake rippled timidly along its shores.
*****