Crawdad

Crawdad
 There was a crawdad who lived in the many holes of a large shelf of solid rock where the water flowed over the top. This huge, rocky ledge was in the bend of the river as it left the mountains heading out to sea. When there was lots of water it was a waterfall. When the water was low there were only many little pools where rocks had rolled and drilled in the water - grindy grindy carving out hidey-holes for crawdads and little fish.
 It was winter when the crawdad felt sleepy and curled up in the mud by the river bank. Spring came along, water swelled in the river. This crawdad and all his crawdad pals went swimming and scrounging around the river bottom for good things to eat. Each had their own hidey-hole and everybody was happy. As the summer came along, the weather got hot. The rains stopped and slowly, slowly the water flowed less and less over the cataract. The big rock became bare in spots separating many of the little pools.
 This is the scary part. Our friend the crawdad was resting and dreaming not noticing that his little water hole had become an isolated little spot in the rock. The water got warmer, and he breathed up all the air in the water, until he started to feel dizzy and sluggish. If were not so clever he may have just perished there! But he realized he was caught by the draught of the season, and he would have to act swiftly to save himself.
 So he wriggled over the edge, out of his pool and struggled over the bare rock. He was lucky to find a small arm of the stream nearby. He dove back in the water - breathing a very big crawdad sigh of relief - aaaahhhh! Running water is cool & fresh and full of oxygen to breathe - it was good to be alive!
 The clever crawdad celebrated by finding his friends and playing a game of tag with their big snippy, pinchy claws. Their red shells glowed in the sunlight under the water. Their feelers waved in the slow trickle of water around the rocks, and they all made it to the next winter just fine.