Salamanders

Trail Wood #109 Earl Plato

Edwin May Teale and wife, Nellie, headed home to their cottage. It was still May.
“ Later on in slow motion in the heat at the end of the day we follow he curve of the pond on the way home. Thunder, still far away, rolls and mutters along the western horizon. Halfway down Azalea Shore where slippage from a small spring has collected into a shallow pool three or four feet across we bend down to examine a whitish mass of salamander eggs, probably those of the common spotted salamander. The cluster suggests a smooth rounded piece of ice spongy with air.
Our last stop before climbing the slope to the house is beside Driftwood Cove. The toads are still trilling but now singly, scattered.”