An Ounce of Prevention

Jonathan gently placed his armload of sticks on the ground and crept up on the lizard, grabbing it as it started to flee. He lifted it triumphantly to show Carmen. "It's a horned toad - a desert lizard. I've got to show this to Dad." He handed it to Carmen. "You carry it and I'll carry the wood."

She placed her bundle of wood on his and reached for the lizard.

Jonathan started to put it in her hand. "Wait, cup one hand under it and the other over it." He placed the lizard in her hand, with his still over it. She covered his hand with hers and he withdrew it.

She had captured lizards before, but never one that looked like this one. It looked like a combination of a lizard and a toad. It squirmed in her hand, its scales scratching her hand.

She wrinkled her nose. "Eeww."

Jonathan surrounded the wood with his arms and had started to lift it. He looked up at her, his expression alarmed. "You're not going to drop it, are you?"

Carmen smiled. "No, Jonathan."

When they got back to camp, Jonathan dropped the sticks by the fire pit and Carmen transferred the lizard to his hands.

Alex watched them, a curious expression on his face. Jonathan took the lizard to him and held it so Alex could examine it.

Alex smiled. "A horned toad. It's been a long time since I've seen one of those.

Matthew ran to them. "I want to see it!"

The other children joined and they all mused over the unusual lizard. When they had all seen and touched it, Jonathan walked to the edge of their camp and released it.

Carmen went into the camper to start supper. After a while, she heard Alex talking and the conversation didn't sound like he was talking to the children. She glanced out the window and saw him with a cell phone to his ear. He was talking to someone at the clinic.

She struggled against an urge to reprimand him. It would only make matters worse. As far as she knew, it was only the second time he had called them. If he had made other calls, he had been successful at concealing them from her. That was what actually irritated her - the sneaking and waiting until her back was turned. It wasn't like Alex to do that - which basically implied that he thought her objection was unreasonable. Maybe it was. He had put his work aside and came with them when he didn't want to go.

When she finished cooking, she carried the food out and set it on the picnic table. She looked at Alex.