Wish You Were Here

I watched Steve inside her terrarium for weeks.  I would monitor the weather app on my phone, trying to figure out when temperatures wouldn't be down in the forties at night.  It has been unseasonably cold.

The day arrived when it would be warm enough and  I took her terrarium outside to the backyard and opened the lid.  I thought she would flee, run away immediately.  She didn't.  I sat on this Mexican blanket I have and watched her.  For hours.  Finally, I turned the terrarium on its side and kind of scooted the moss she was riding on out of the cage, with a stick.  She eventually jumped off.  And sat there.  I encircled her with branches so that she wouldn't camouflage herself and went inside to pee.

When I came back, she was still in the circle.  The neighbors from the house that used to be orange were having an uncomfortable conversation with tree removal people.  I knew they saw me and wished I would go away, but I couldn't.  It's my yard and I had to make sure Steve was okay.   I sat and I watched.  Alec came out and we moved the Mexican blanket and her terrarium farther away.  I sat on it with my book, while Alec sat on a chair next to our blanket.

Suddenly, Steve ran toward the blanket.  It sort of freaked me out and I moved away.  She hadn't moved a foot all day, but suddenly she was running twelve feet, and then rested herself on the blanket next to me.  Alec and I sat and talked.  And Steve sat there.  Then, she ran into the terrarium.

"Let's take her in..."  I said,
"put the moss back in and she'll live inside."
"No.  You know what the right thing to do is."

We picked up the terrarium with Steve inside and put it on a table we have by our backdoor, sideways.  She sat inside for a minute, then ran out on the table, into the sun.  She sat there for a while.  Then, she jumped and attached herself to a retaining wall.  She ran up onto the top of the bricks and genuinely looked happy, warming her belly on the hot bricks.  Lola and the asshole neighbor dog ran toward her and I was really alarmed when she didn't move.

"Girl, you need to learn some survival skills!"  I sputtered at Steve while I held Lola back from stepping on her.
Alec came out and helped me scoot Steve on a piece of paper to a safer place on the bricks.  I heard large birds overheard, we have hawks and owls, and I reached over Steve to make sure they wouldn't come at her.

When I looked down, she was gone.
Alec and I look for her everyday, hoping she's out there, on the fence, on the bricks, somewhere.

"I really wish we saw her one more time..."  Alec said quietly, one day while we stood where we released her.
"Me too."  I responded.