Thomas Eidson - St. Agnes’ Stand

‘Really, Mr Swanson. You should be ashamed of yourself scaring the children and telling them you have the devil in your hand. What kind of nonsense do you want to put in their heads?’

Swanson stroked the lizard’s belly gently with his finger. He didn’t look up at Sister Elizabeth. ‘I was just trying to give them some fun. They don’t look like they’ve had much lately.’

They came back giggling and ready to run.

‘Let us see him.’

Swanson held the horned toad out for them and one by one they touched his spiny backside. Sister Elizabeth was walking toward the cave.

‘You said he could spit blood.’

Swanson glanced across the enclosure to make sure the nun wasn’t watching him. ‘And he can. Stand back.’

When they had cleared a pathway in front of him, Swanson teased the lizard with his finger for a moment, then pointed its head toward the open area and squeezed his stomach some. It wasn’t enough to hurt him, but the pressure made him nervous that he was about to be eaten and the little dinosaur let go. A bright red stream of blood spurted out of one of his eyes a full five feet across the sand. The children’s eyes got wide. Anna stooped and touched her finger to the red trail on the sand.

‘It’s really blood!’ she screamed. ‘He is the Texas devil!’

The children ran away again.

A few minutes later, Jessica came back and asked for the Texas devil. Swanson gave it to her with the promise she wouldn’t pester it. She took the little creature to the other children and they spent an hour or so playing with it and laughing. He felt better.

Later, when it was close to evening and the strip of shadow near the rocks had reached halfway across the enclosure, when the Gambel’s quail had started calling each other for the night roost, Anna came and stood in front of Swanson, holding something behind her back. Her face was thin and smudged with dirt. She looked happy.

‘I have something for you, Mr Swanson.’

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