The Creatures are Different Today

Tom and Kobae return from Saturday's hike. The four side blotch lizards that wait for the sound of the flyswatter whack on the front porch, are absent. Not a single Red Spotted or Woodhouse toad in the shrubbery. Tom spent 15 minutes catching them all and releasing them from the cistern yesterday and they have all returned, every one, and it's not hot. The critters, creatures of habit, are different today. As Tom waters along the west end of the front porch he sees it. Putting an open container on the ground and directing it with a walking stick, Tom captures the Faded Midget.