Wall Walker

At the toaster, I looked up and out the window: there, fluttering fitfully around three purple blossoms, six swallowtails swirled. I grabbed my camera and headed out.

What I didn't expect was what I found after photographing them: a green wall walker, trembling slightly on the siding, glancing my way. I waited and watched him turn and sidle to the sill, where he stalked a meal I didn't see.

To the snort of a deer trotting into the forest, I left the mantis to silence and the swallowtails to frenzy, dizzy with the wilds of my yard.