Clarence the crab lived in a cozy little cave under the sea. He loved collecting seashells! Every day, he’d scuttle along the sandy ocean floor, finding the prettiest, shiniest shells he could. He had a big pile of them, all for himself. Clarence thought his shell collection was the best in the whole wide ocean.
One evening, as the sun began to set and the water turned a beautiful shade of purple, Clarence was admiring his shells. His friends, Shelly the starfish and Finley the fish, swam by. “Wow, Clarence! You have so many beautiful shells!” Shelly exclaimed. Finley added, “They’re so sparkly! We’re trying to decorate our homes for bedtime, but we can’t find any pretty things.”
Clarence hugged his shell pile tightly. He didn’t *want* to share. These were *his* shells! He mumbled, “They’re… they’re very special. I need them all.” Shelly and Finley looked sad. They swam away slowly, their fins drooping.
Clarence continued to look at his shells, but they didn’t seem as sparkly anymore. He felt a little pang in his heart. He remembered how much fun he had playing hide-and-seek with Shelly and Finley. He remembered how Finley always told the funniest jokes. Having friends was much more fun than having a pile of shells.
Clarence quickly scuttled after his friends. “Wait!” he called. “I… I want to share!” He carefully picked out some of his prettiest shells – a pink spiral shell for Shelly and a blue, glittery shell for Finley. Their faces lit up!
Shelly stuck the pink shell right onto her point, and Finley carefully placed the blue shell near his favorite seaweed. “Thank you, Clarence!” they both said happily. They all swam back to their homes together, feeling warm and cozy.
As Clarence settled into his cave for bedtime, he realized something wonderful. Sharing his shells hadn’t made him have *less* joy; it had made him have *more*! He snuggled into his sandy bed, thinking about his friends and the sparkly shells. Sharing with friends made bedtime the best time of all. And that, thought Clarence, was a treasure even more precious than any seashell.