Winter waves ripped across the tide pool. Raspy the periwinkle shuddered beneath a rock. A wave picked him up and tossed him back and forth like a toy boat in a bathtub. He was tired of winter. He was alone, except for the barnacles and mussels which weren't much company. He missed his friends. Where could they be?
He'd spent hours every day at low tide cruising along the beach looking for someone to play with. Sometimes he'd make a slime trail twenty feet long before the tide turned. But no one was around, not even the children who had dug sand castles on the beach and played hide 'n seek with him in the tidepool in the summer. The marina next door was deserted. The boats were perched high above the water in their winter cradles. Their protective tarps flapped madly in the winter winds, as if they were trying to fly free.
Raspy sighed. He crept over to a slimy rock to scrape off a little seaweed supper. Then he turned his antenna eyes seaward to wait some more. Suddenly an arm appeared over the edge of a rock. Four more arms followed. It was Sandy, the sea star. "Whew" he said. "That was a long haul." Raspy was so excited he jumped as high as a periwinkle could, but the sea star didn't notice.
Where have you been? Raspy cried. The sea star looked toward the snail with a few of his five eyes. "Offshore, of course", he replied matter-of-factly. "Where else would I be? I like to take it easy over the winter. I go where it's a little warmer and calmer. Who could take a tidepool in winter?" He sniffed, looking around at the ice that still clung to the shady side of the pool. "Where did you go?" asked Raspy. "Out there," Sandy pointed across the water, "on a sandbar about thirty feet down, where the winter waves couldn't reach me." Raspy remembered his long, cold winter in the tide pool. He felt that he'd missed an opportunity somehow.
Just then Crystal the green crab scuttled past. "Just look at this place! What a mess! Why I come back here year after year, I'm sure I don't know!"
The tidepool was a sorry sight. Dead algae was strewn about. The waves and ice had scraped bare spots where seaweeds and mussels had grown thickly last autumn. Sandy whispered, "She spent the winter in an abandoned lobster trap just fifteen feet away That's not exactly what I'd call a winter getaway!
Crystal sidled over to the pair. "I would have expected the water to be warmer by now. It's spring already! Well, since I'm here first, I'll get the best rock to hide under. See you around.! She lifted a claw in farewell.
Was it really spring?
Raspy had noticed a change over the past few weeks. The water was a little warmer it didn't seem quite so salty. Every thing was in bloom, especially the phytoplankton. Those tiny green plants were everywhere, pursued by feebly-swimming animals the size of sand grains. Tiny baby barnacles and baby mussels nestled against the bare rocks the ice had scraped clean.
Despite these signs of life, the tidepool couldn't match the bustling activity of summer. It just made Raspy miss his friends more. His antenna drooped sadly.
"Let's send a signal," suggested Sandy.
"But how?"
"Don't you have eyes?" asked Sandy. Raspy wasn't quite sure he did. He considered the question as he followed his friend up the rocks to the edge of the marina. There was a tall flagpole overlooking the water.
Wait 'till they see this! exclaimed Sandy. Arm over arm over arm, the sea star hauled up the nautical
flags until he had sent this message:
Use this key the decipher Sandy's message.
