Every morning when we go outside, we check the birdbath that’s on the ground under the Lantana to see if the toad is there. Usually it isn’t. Today it was.
I almost didn’t notice it. The water had nearly evaporated. There were soggy leaves and a couple stones in the bottom, and a very shallow puddle of water. And there in the water was the head of a toad.
A say “head” because at first I saw nothing but its head a soggy wrinkled leaf. But the leaf was no leaf. The toad had flattened itself so that it could lie submerged in that meager puddle.
I slowly walked to the water barrels and got some rainwater to raise the water level slightly, standing as far back as I could and then retreating to the bench. The toad’s eyes glistened. It puffed up and moved around. It wiped its face and wiggled, as I sat still to watch what happened.
Here is what happened.