Excerpt from the Prolog:
AFRICAN PROVERB: THE CHILD WHO IS NOT EMBRACED BY THE VILLAGE WILL BURN IT DOWN TO FEEL ITS WARMTH
"It is better to suffer wrong than to do it." Samuel Johson
"Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can surv...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Scene: The lake. Occupant: 1 opal-pale swimmer. In need of flushing her gills ... and solitude. O. A boy would be nice. If they still existed. She hadn't seen a boy of her species in over 5 years.
...she'd not seen another of her kind in 3 years...
Action:
"Lizard Lips" was irked. She'd finally learned what her designation meant. (Grumble, grumble.) Blood Daisy was comparing her lips to a crocodile's plug ugly mug?!
Fortunately, both her nasal sinuses and her swim bladder were mostly healed. She wasn't ready for a deep dive, but she was ready to terrorize frogs...
As long as said froggies were:
#1: morbidly obese, #2: incredibly geriatric, ...and... #3: did nothing more vigorous than the dogpaddle.
(Dunk!!) She vigorously shook her submerged head ... in a futile attempt to shake loose the cobwebs of her spider-infested mind. All she achieved were: #1: drenched cobwebs, ...and... #2: irate "spiders." (Ok! Ok! I "need" an excuse to hydrate my gills!)
(and slurp up some super-scrumptious, raw frog eggs: YUM)
She knew deep down in her chitinous bones that her underwater swim-fest was a limited luxury. The "people" in the commune? Well...
They weren't no-how too keen about her bobbing about in a mirky, crocodile infested lake. Which was why "Squiggles" was frolicking nearby.
As long as the remaining "lizards" remembered — that —apexpredator, then "Lizard Lips" couldn't be any safer! Unfortunately, Squiggles [#//] was having entirely too much fun...
• That little [grumble-grumble] ... Meister Frog Repellent!!! (Scaring away all of those yummy, yummy frogs! The nerve! Yet... Frog eggs can't swim... Yay!)
"Lizard Lips" reluctantly surfaced before taking a breath of fresh air so that she could relax her gills. (And look for both attached and free-floating rafts of yummy frog eggs.) And why not (ouch) ...gently... refresh her swim bladder's air bubble?
Wait...
The water's calm. Uh-oh.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
