Isn't it true that the most beautiful love stories start unexpectedly and almost insignificantly? People become attached even before they are aware, with no words exchanged, yet they have already fallen for each other. Such is the story of Brady Brandwood and his friend Leon. Were it not for the video title ("Keeping A Grocery Store Lobster As A Pet"), the images of an unused aquarium and the musical loop worthy of a telephone hold, nothing would suggest the romance unfolding before our eyes.
In September 2021, the American videographer decided to bring a 200-liter indoor aquarium back into use. He withheld no details about where he met his lucky future tenant, undoubtedly one of the luckiest crustaceans of his species: straight from the seafood section of the local supermarket. In all candor, our aquarist even admitted in voice-over that lobster is "his favorite food for special occasions," as the live "seafood," packed in its carry box, glided across the automatic conveyor belt of a cash register. Did a shiver run down the animal's spine?
Soon, the creature settled into its new home. A moving acclimatization began on both sides of the glass wall. Léon's claws were freed from the rubber bands, and he was fed his first meal of fish microbeads, officially receiving his name during this first immersion. The owner, satisfied and curious, admired his new protégé's armor, bristling with red spikes. Soon, earthworms were offered as food to the beloved crustacean, who gradually stretched out his 10 legs and even benefited from rehabilitation assistance to regain full use of its claws.
Without spoiling the video series that follows, you should know that as the months go by, Leon makes a spectacular recovery, gets to eat much more than earthworms – which are unlikely to be part of a standard lobster diet – and one day even has to change his shell, and then his home.
Brandwood never explains why he chose to adopt a lobster. Was it to pay homage to the accursed poet Gérard de Nerval, who, in a famous fit of eccentricity, walked through the Palais-Royal in Paris with a crustacean on a leash in 1841? It's unclear whether this unusual act had any impact on the lobster's well-being. Perhaps he chuckled in 1998 as he watched episode 7 of the 10th season of The Simpsons, in which Homer also adopts a lobster to fatten up before becoming attached to it. Alas, the unfortunate Mr. Pinchy scalded himself in his bath and ended up, as expected, on the family table.
A gigantic global feast
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