A lizard is lunging back and forward on a rock. It has been years since I have seen a lizard, what a subtle un-looked-for surprise. Just sitting here watching the jerky movements that he makes as he looks for the shadiest place under the sage brush to lay.
Ever warily, he scans, right to left and back. He quickly moves under a branch of the bush when I shift sitting positions. Seeing him there, hiding, in the bushes takes me back to long days in the summer when I was a child.
As child I loved the outdoors one of my favorite past times was spending long hours riding my bicycle with my friend to his farm. The heat swept over me then as it does now, sweating long hours up to the farm 3 miles away. Some days we would get lucky and get to take his Dad’s four wheeler.
Once we were at the farm there was always a contest to see who could catch the most lizards without losing any pieces. As any lizard expert knows, they throw their tails when they are frightened to trick their predators. We, being bright children, were only tricked a couple of times.
The lizard moves back to a hole in the brush allowing me a better visual, I snap back. Things have changed, I no longer enjoy being outside the heat irritates me and reminds me of things I could be doing back in civilization.
I am surprised that my eyes are still sharp enough to, without glasses, see a lizard in the brush.