THUS BEGAN MY DAY

Walking back from Yvonne’s, having discussed the new day’s weather, on my porch two skinks, six to eight inches in length, prehistoric legs with tiny toes and claws, lizard heads, cold patience, one’s mouth open and clamped onto the head of the other, their bodies erotically side by side, eyes open, frozen in mid-gesture, obviously in the throes of passionate reptilian intercourse when interrupted by the clomping feet of my arrival.

I stopped to stare.

In a synchronized flash, one jaw still latched to the head of the other, they dashed in perfect unison across the deck and leaped off the side onto the grass beneath an oak tree. There, again frozen in reptilian time, open jaw still clamped onto the head of the other, side by lizard side, they waited. I, flustered for having interrupted their passion, paused and then stepped inside and closed the door quietly.