I was walking through my garden the other day, and bent down to look and see if any of the squash was ready to pick. As I pushed the leaf aside, I saw a little gray, scaly head looking up at me. It might have been a lizard, but I saw the S-curve that made me believe it was a garden snake of some sort, so I let the leaf drop back in place, and went inside to get my husband. A few minutes of investigation on his part showed that, whatever it was, it had gone. Nonetheless, I put my shoes on before I went out to the garden again.
That experience provided the inspiration for this short story. If you sit outside on a quiet day in late summer, you might be able to see the same things.
The Watcher
Large droplets of dew slowly made their way in crooked trails down the enormous squash leaf overhanging the edge of the garden, while long fingers of mist pulled the fog into the yard from the valley below. He sat there under the umbrella of leaves as he waited, observing the activity in the damp yard just beyond his den. It was a great spot from which to watch, shaded from the hot sun for most of the day, and hidden from keen eyes that searched the garden for invaders.