reverendjaneausten

I thought he was a leaf. The light brown Preying Mantis  (P.M.)  must have been parched, like everything else in this draught. But there (s)he was,  (P.M. to be gender neutral)  last Wednesday morning, on my front left tire. I was glad the 6” bug chose that one- I’d have never seen it, and that would have been sad. “You have to move,” I said with gentle urgency. “I have a healing service.” P.M. looked at me with the exact same look our brown dog, Grantham, gives me when I ask her to do something she does not prefer. It’s part baleful and part martyred, but it translates to “Make Me.” I looked around for a stick. There wasn’t one. The neighborhood HOA frowns on such untidiness, but I was still surprised. “Come on,” I coaxed. There is a nice green bush right there. You know you want to move.” I stealthily checked my watch. This was not going to be a good excuse for tardiness. “You want me to move, you move me. You are 100 times larger than I am and I am terrified.” Contrary to th