The Butterfly that Almost Wasn't Part I
Posted by Martha; anole photographed by Martha Young McQuilkin from her Patio '12 · Jun 10, 2013
The green anole, Desdemona, sparkled in a pool of spring sunshine waiting for her Caelumen friend, Elspeth the Elfin Dragon.
"Where is E?" she asked herself. "She's always on The Patio when I'm sunning."
"Elspeth. Oh, Elspeth! Where are you?" she chimed sounding a chorus of miniature silver bells. "Hellooooo, Elspeth. Please answer me!"
"Shhhhhhh! Hush now, Desdemona!"
Startled, the anole looked up. Right above her, the elfin dragon stretched along one of the larger horizontal Japanese Maple branches. In one anole heartbeat, Desdemona jumped up to join her friend.
"What are you watching, Elspeth?"
"Look up, Desie," the dragon whispered.
Desdemona scanned the slender branches above her. The lizard swiveled her head. Underneath the green cover hung a delicate mottled pouch that continually trembled.
"Whoever is wriggling about in there must be most anxious, Elspeth."
"That someone is Bella. When I met her several weeks ago she was a little caterpillar devouring one delicate snapdragon vine leaf after another on Miss Martha's Patio. She said she just loved those leaves, and asked if I knew of any others close by. When I said yes and led her to the first, she crawled ever so quickly behind me. While she munched, I told her that soon she would have eaten her fill.
"How did you know that, Elspeth?" inquired the anole, swishing her tail back and forth expectantly.
"Observation, Miss Desdemona. Do you want me to tell you more?"
(to be continued from Atlanta, Georgia, USA on Miss Martha's Patio - Earth)
