Blue Moon

     A blue moon is not really blue but a second full moon in the same calender month.  It was typically thought of as a bad omen and made it difficult to calculate the calender and seasons in early history.

     There are over 600 species of Conus, with 16 new species identified each year.  All species of Cone Shell having a venom with multiple toxins in its arsenal, make it one of the most successful killers on the planet.  There are roughly 15 envenomation deaths a year attributed to the Cone Shell mollusk.

     Laura and Will had met only a week ago but felt a strong connection.  A spur of the moment flash of spontaneity put them together for a weekend trip to the beach.  The full moon inspired them for a romantic walk on the beach.  Hand in hand, feeling the warmth of each others grasp, they dug their toes into the cold sand as they walked.  It was late November and there was a chill in the air but how could you not feel the sand between your toes when at the beach.  They walked in silence, enjoying the second full moon of the month.
     Each day, beachcombers spent hours plucking the shells and the occasional shark tooth out of the surf line.  By the time evening rolled around, the shore was a veritable desert with only mounds of sea grass marking the high-tide line.  As Laura and Will walked the desolate shore, Laura was feeling very enlivened, whether the night air or the instinctive tug of the lunar cycle, she was sure this would be a night to remember.  Will likewise was starting to feel the effects of the moon and cast furtive glances at Laura hoping she was feeling the same.  Like a beacon in the middle of their trail, a lone conch shell washed up with the next wave.  Pulling them out of their romantic interlude, natural curiosity drew them to the shell.  Laura broke hands with Will and bent over to pick up the shell.
     "Careful, there might be something living in it, " said Will.
     "No, only empty shells wash up on the beach," Laura said as she picked it up and dumped the water out.  Laura bent too the next wave and gave it a short wash in the surf to get rid of sand that it had plowed from the beach.  When finished, she held it up for will  to admire.  In the light of the full moon it held a ghostly glow akin to the moon itself.  As Will took the shell from Laura, she noticed another white image in the surf.  A second conch had washed up behind Will. 
     It could feel the warmth of touch through the shell.  Sensing the heat of its victim had secured its place as a cold-blooded killer in a cold environment.  Fish could smell death in the water and early on in its evolution stopped swimming close enough to catch as pray, but the animals that lived in air were always curious and and offered themselves easily.
     Will said, "I wonder if I can hear the ocean?"  As Laura bent to retrieve the second one, Will held the shell to his ear.
     No sooner than Laura had picked up the second shell, another and another, washed up in the surf.
     So close, the heat poured into the shell opening.  The proximity of its prey triggered the primordial sense to feed.  In a flash, it extended a specialized tentacle and stung the warm flesh offered to it.  Retracting quickly to reduce any damage to itself, it now waited for the quick death of its prey.
     Laura heard a yelp behind her and turned to see Will drop the shell from his hand and sink to his knees.  In the moment she wondered if he was kidding, she felt a sharp sting on her ankle.  She only had time to look down to the shell at her foot before the world started to swim before her eyes.
     In the silence of the night, only the blue moon was a witness to the completion of a romantic walk.  A wash of shells on the beach extended tentacles to attach themselves to motionless bodies.  At great risk in the fullness of the moon, lifeless bodies were pulled into the surf, all trails in the sand washed away in the foam of the next wave.