Goodnight Bears, Goodnight Chairs, Goodnight Creatures Everywhere

Mr. Laura is a real animal lover. He loves all creatures no matter how small and creepy they may appear to me. Don't get me wrong. I have a deep respect for life in all its many variations, shapes and sizes. There are just some creatures I would prefer to appreciate from a distance. Mr. Laura has never met a dog or cat that isn't instantly taken with him. He will catch anything from snakes to lizards to frogs. He's even been known to catch a cockroach or two. There was also the time, when he was three, that he chased down a goose bigger than himself. He managed to get his hands on the goose's tail before it finally got airborne.

In his younger days he was not always so careful with the smaller creatures. Several frogs and lizards suffered early deaths because he was too rough. We worked on being gentle and also letting them go after a short time of captivity so they "could be with their family again." This reasoning worked very well with Mr. Laura. Many frogs and lizards were caught and safely returned to the wild. One day, however, he accidentally killed a lizard. This upset him greatly. He carried this lizard around in a box for the rest of the day apologizing for killing it. That evening he asked if we could bury the lizard. He picked the spot for the grave and I helped him dig the hole. As we place the lizard in, he requested that we say a prayer so we did. Mr. Laura covered him with dirt and marked the grave with rocks and flowers. It was all quite sincere and sweet. It was not until a few days later, when an unidentifiable odor began to appear in the house, that we found the poor lizard in Mr. Laura's room. He had dug him up and returned him to the box, he said, "because he did not like to think of him all alone without his family."

Last night, as I passed the bathroom where Mr. Laura was getting ready for bed, I noticed him blowing kisses and saying "Sweet dreams. I love you. See you in the morning. Night, night" over and over again. I asked him if he was telling his reflection in the mirror goodnight. To which he replied, "No. I was talking to the ladybugs." This particular bathroom is the warmest spot in the house and attracts lots of ladybugs much like Florida attracts snowbirds from the north every winter. I stepped into the bathroom and sure enough there on the counter were about six ladybugs that Mr. Laura was "tucking in" for the night.